In Bogotá, the plane of former congresswoman Aída Merlano Rebolledo landed, who in October 2019 had escaped from a prison and fled to Venezuela. The former senator was deported from Venezuela and will face two sentences in Colombia.
DAILY OF HUILA, NATIONAL
While on the run, Merlano had been sentenced by the Supreme Court of Justice in two processes for electoral irregularities. In May 2020, she was sentenced to 11 years and four months in prison for buying votes; and in November 2022 the Court sentenced her to five years and six months for the crime of violating the ceilings or spending limits in electoral campaigns.
Thus, after his arrival in the country, Merlano will be at the disposal of a sentence execution judge to begin serving the sentences issued against him. That judge would have to define his place of confinement.
For now, the woman from Barranquilla has already completed the process with Colombian Migration in coordination with the Colombian Foreign Ministry and the National Police, then the Dijin will review her and she will be sent directly to the El Buen Pastor prison in Bogotá.
On the other hand, Merlano is linked to other processes, but as a declarant in cases against powerful politicians and businessmen.
Merlano’s statements
«My priority is to face all the processes against me, to face justice to answer for the crimes that I committed and to defend myself against the crimes that were unfairly accused of me and of which I declare myself innocent. I will continue to fight for my innocence in the assemblies of which I was the victim of a mafia political clan on the Caribbean coast.
“Ask President Gustavo Petro for the safety and integrity of all the members of my family who have been victims of threats, attacks and kidnapping attempts, situations that have been denounced and have not been echoed by the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation” , he pointed out.
“I fear being the victim of an attack and this time they will achieve their goal as when they tried to do it the day they tried to kill me on a farm after being raped,” she emphasized.
«I have never fled from justice, I left because my life was at risk in this country. And I left to prepare myself, to take my evidence and so that Colombia could hear my truth in that country.”
“I am not going to assume responsibilities and crimes that I have not committed,” he concluded.
The trial of Julio Gerlein
In January of this year, Merlano reappeared via videoconference in the trial against the powerful businessman Julio Gerlein for conspiring to commit a crime, corruption of the voter, and violation of spending ceilings or limits in electoral campaigns.
According to the former congresswoman’s testimony, Gerlein was one of the people who financed her electoral campaign in 2018, with which she tried to reach the Senate and, in fact, Merlano was elected to be a senator, but the Prosecutor’s Office captured her before she could take office. .
At Gerlein’s trial, she spoke of meetings with Arturo Char, Julio Gerlein and Faisal Cure so that multimillion-dollar contributions were made to his campaign, and he assured that, at his campaign headquarters, known as the ‘White House’, the same Char went to bring him about 500 million pesos in cash.
“I want the facts of 2018 to be clarified and that all the people who are responsible in one way or another and are responsible, answer to justice for each crime,” Merlano said at the beginning of the hearing, adding that Gerlein had allegedly told him at some point that taking it to the Senate would cost between 16,000 and 18,000 million pesos.
The process against Arturo Char
On the other hand, Merlano is one of the key people in the process that the Supreme Court of Justice opened against former Senator Arturo Char Chaljub, also for possible electoral crimes.
In this case, the Court has already summoned Char for an investigation and the appointment was scheduled for January 24, but it had to be postponed due to a change in the defense of the former congressman, who resigned from the Senate shortly after the Chamber of Instruction of the high The court opened a formal investigation for the crimes of electoral corruption and conspiracy to commit a crime.
In this case, the Court is investigating Char for electoral corruption and criminal conspiracy for allegedly having participated in an illegal vote-buying strategy to favor Aida Merlano and Lilibeth Llinás in the 2018 elections.
This framework, known as the ‘White House’, would have carried out actions in Barranquilla and in the municipalities of Atlántico and it would have played an active role and organization of Arturo Char, to the detriment of democratic participation.
deported from Venezuela
On the return of Merlano Rebolledo to the country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement stating that the woman is being transferred from Venezuela to Colombia, “not as a result of an extradition request that was submitted to Mr. Juan Guaidó at the time, without any effectiveness, but by deportation, a measure recognized by International Law, taken by the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
The communication adds that “both countries have requested the respect and full guarantee of the rights of Mrs. Merlano, for which they have requested the presence of the corresponding judicial authority and the Ombudsman’s Office.”
Defense asks for protection
Lawyer Miguel Ángel Del Río Malo, who defends the interests of former congresswoman Aída Merlano, asked that she be transferred and deprived of her liberty in Bogotá.
The lawyer said that there are versions that she would be taken to Ibagué and that her safety could not be guaranteed there.
He indicated that some requests will be made to Inpec so that she has special security conditions.
“I respectfully request all [email protected], @osunanestor, @INPEC_Colombia that the detention space for Mrs. Aida Merlano is in Bogota. Any other city would create a danger against her personal integrity,” she said on her social media.
He added that she was placed at the disposal of a judge for the execution of sentences who must monitor her sentence.
The former congresswoman has two sentences handed down by the Supreme Court, one for conspiring to commit a crime and another for violating campaign ceilings.
Due to the first facts, the sentence is already final and must be complied with with an insurance measure.
Likewise, he is expected to testify in several processes in which investigations are being carried out against taxpayers.
reactions
Angélica Lozano in disagreement
The deportation from Venezuela of former congresswoman Aida Merlano, convicted of electoral corruption, has generated all kinds of reactions.
The senator questioned whether the deported former congresswoman had spoken to the media.
“Why does a criminal person in state custody give a press conference?” asked Alianza Verde senator Angélica Lozano after Merlano, convicted after the electoral corruption scandal called Casa Blanca, spoke from her arrival at the headquarters of the Dijin
Raphael Nieto
The one who also questioned the press conference was the former presidential candidate Rafael Nieto, who said that this is the “only country where such a thing happens. And accompanied by a police general. Your deportation is very good, but there is no doubt that it was to be used politically. Curtain for the dolphin Petro. What else?”.
Press conference
The former conservative congresswoman, who escaped in 2019 and fled to Venezuela, where she was arrested, assured that after her return to the country, her priority is to face all the processes against her and answer for the crimes she committed. But she, she clarified, that she will defend herself against the crimes that were “unfairly” accused of.
“I will continue to fight for my innocence in the assemblies of which I was the victim of a mafia political clan on the Caribbean coast,” he assured.
And he took the opportunity to ask “President Gustavo Petro for the safety and integrity of all the members of my family who have been victims of threats, attacks and kidnapping attempts, situations that have been reported and have not been echoed by the Prosecutor’s Office”.
Merlano stated that she fears “being the victim of an attack and this time they will achieve their goal as when they tried to do it the day they tried to kill me on a farm after being raped.”
And he added that she never fled from justice, but rather left the country because her life was in danger: “I left to prepare myself, to take my evidence and so that Colombia could hear my truth in that country.”