A prominent activist in Colombia has declared an arrest warrant for a former guerrilla involved in the 2006 false demobilization case a “violation of his fundamental rights” and called for European Union [EU] intervention, reported Colombian media Sunday.
Liduine Zumpolle, director of an NGO with close ties to former President Alvaro Uribe, criticized a security measure placed over Felipe Alejandro Salazar, alias “Biofilo,” at the request of the prosecution in the “false demobilization” case against former Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo. According to Zumpolle, the request has flouted the previous terms agreed for Biofilo’s cooperation.
Zumpolle is the director of the foundation Manos por la Paz, which was founded by jailed FARC guerrilla “Olivo Saldaña” who is now accused of having set up the false demobilization.
Zumpolle said, “Over the course of 2011, the proposed cooperation of Biofilo, which allowed his freedom from prison, included the security guarantee of accompaniment and monitoring from the international community, represented by myself. Biofilo agreed to cooperate and has done so in a very effective way.”
Following the granting of the request by prosecutor Francisco Villareal, Zumpolle called on the E.U. to consider suspending bilateral cooperation programs and “strengthen the oversight of the process.”
Former FARC guerrilla Salazar acted as the commander of the ficticious Cacica Gaitana Front, which is at the center of the 2006 false demobilization scandal.
The incident allegedly saw Restrepo work with Saldaña and drug trafficker Hugo Rojas Yepez to organize the demobilization of the Cacica Gaitana Front. The three are accused of paying $278 to homeless and unemployed people in the central Tolima department to train, live and act like FARC guerrillas, then surrender to security forces.
Restrepo is currently being tried in absentia, after he fled the country on January 8 to avoid arrest.
Salazar, who has continued to live in Colombia anonymously, previously provided crucial information in the case, including the accusation that former President Alvaro Uribe personally knew about the false demobilization plot.
