Colombian Congressman Ivan Cepeda revealed on Wednesday he was warned of an alleged plot to murder him as he visited a prison, reported Terra news.
While visiting the Tramacua de Valledupar Prison on June 13, Cepeda received a letter from inmate Wilmer Vergara Garzon that contained details of the alleged plot. Garzon alerted Cepeda that two guards, Pulido and Gonzalez, at the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC) had allegedly been paid to kill Cepeda. The alleged attack was supposed to have been carried out on Cepeda’s previous visit to the INPEC on May 22.
The two guards had been in charge of escorting Cepeda during his last visit to INPEC. While Cepeda was busy speaking with his back turned to the guards, Gonzalez took a sharp weapon out of his pocket to attack him from behind, Garzon wrote.
Authorities are unclear as to what happened next and why the attempt was not carried out. After Cepeda was alerted of the threat, inmate Garzon was transferred to a different jail and the security camera footage was found to have been erased, reported Colombia’s Radio Santa Fe.
Cepeda has classified the alleged death threat as “the most serious” threat he has received and has visited the prison to report the two prison guards. The letter from Garzon has been turned over to the prosecutor general for investigations.
