In the midst of a growing wave of questions and accusations, the mayor of Santa Marta, Carlos Pinedo Cuello, defended himself against the revelation of photographs that show him meeting with alias Camilo, one of the bosses of the ‘Los Pachencas’ gang, which commits crimes on the Caribbean Coast and is one of the groups that are talking to the government of the President Gustavo Petro. In In statements to EL TIEMPO, Mayor Pinedo assured that that meeting in the Sierra Nevada with César Gustavo Becerra Gómez (the real name of ‘Camilo’) It was forced and supervening.
(Also: This is how the recovery of the injured people left by the accident on the 30th Street bridge in Soledad, Atlántico is going)
Pinedo Cuello, with documents and other photographs as evidence, assured that the meeting was against his will and occurred during an activity to collect signatures for the mayor’s office held in April of last year in the village. La Tagua, rural area of the Minca district.
The mayor said that the controversial meeting, which was revealed by ‘la W’ and for which investigations are already announced in the control entities, took place on April 2, 2023, and not in February of this year, as has been pointed out in the media.
“That day I visited the community of Minca and La Tagua to collect signatures and listen to the needs of the community,” said Pinedo Cuello.
The photo that has Mayor Carlos Pinedo entangled. In the image he appears meeting with alias ‘Camilo’, former commander and spokesperson for the Conquering Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada (ACSN).
Photo:Courtesy The W
“I was directed to the space evident in the photograph. There was a group of six or seven people at the scene, some of them carrying long-range weapons. and dressed in uniforms for the exclusive use of public forces,” the president said.
The mayor did not refer to the hug with ‘Camilo’, which was also recorded in photographs and which was harshly criticized by President Gustavo Petro. “Some mayors embrace criminal gangs (…) Embracing the criminal while the gang commits crimes is an empowerment of crime against citizens.”
The response of Mayor Carlos Pinedo for the photo with alias ‘Camilo’, of ‘los Pachencas’
“This non-consensual encounter was intimidating, occurred without prior agreement, and is
evident that in this situation with heavily armed men “I had no choice but to listen to and greet the members of this organization,” he said.
He clarified that at no time was he treated with violence or threatened and that for that reason his behavior was cordial and he limited himself to listening to those present.
“They expressed to me their desire to start dialogue tables for total peace. I only limited myself to saying that if it was an issue that directly led the Presidency, If I were mayor as a territorial entity, I was willing to follow the national guideline,” Pinedo added.
Complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office
(Read: William Mebarak, Shakira’s father, hospitalized in Barranquilla for pneumonia at 92 years of age)
“In the complaint that was immediately presented to the armed coercion and illegal detention, possible kidnapping that I suffered, the reserved handling of the matter was requested, to protect my integrity, that of my family and that of all the members of the campaign, given the delicate security situation. Likewise, I requested an exhaustive investigation into the presence of groups outside the law in the rural area of Santa Marta.”, he claimed. Pinedo did not explain why in the long year since the incident he did not publicly report the incident.
Reactions and political context
“This region has impressive political cannibalism and they seek in any way to damage my good name and the work that has been done.”. We ask the Samaria community for peace of mind, we will continue working, we will continue advancing and we will continue transforming the city“, he stated.
Mayor Carlos Pinedo responded to his critics by saying that until now the only support that the Self-Defense Conquistadors of the Sierra Nevada have publicly recognized was towards the former governor Carlos Caicedo when he proposed his name as mayor.
The mayor’s statements come after serious accusations, including from the President of the Republic himself, which have generated an atmosphere of tension in the political and social sphere of Santa Marta.
