MAnuel Casanova Guzmán, former militant of the M-19 guerrilla, was the first head of the powerful National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) during the government of Gustavo Petro.
According to the criteria of
However, He quietly left office on February 24. And after managing a budget of nearly 200 billion pesos and the country’s intelligence services, EL TIEMPO found him managing a modest coffee business.known as Colombian Peace Coffee.
Gonzalez’s revelation
Carlos Ramón González, DNI director.
Photo:Taken from the social networks of Carlos Ramón González.
Casanova, a philosopher by profession and one of the historic members of the same guerrilla group in which President Gustavo Petro served, was awarded the Order of Merit for Presidential Security, in the Commander grade, at the end of 2023. But he ended up leaving the DNI amid rumors that he had participated in a failed investigation into an alleged extortion that was being carried out on the then Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva due to the passport scandal.
At that time, EL TIEMPO reported that Also leaving the DNI were Edwin Chavarro, director of intelligence and counterintelligence; Consuelo Ramos, general secretary; and Urías Trujillo, director of operations.
But only until now, Carlos Ramón González, another ex-M19 who succeeded Casanova in office, revealed that at least one of those ‘casualties’ (that of the police colonel (r), Chavarro) was due to the rumor of alleged shootings.
González’s revelation occurred in the middle of a round of media that made after EL TIEMPO revealed that the Constitutional Court requested an investigation into whether they were victims of profiling, wiretapping and surveillance.
Colonel (r) Edwin Chavarro.
Photo:Government of Cundinamarca
Gonzalez was emphatic that there is no such Orion plan for this purpose and that Chavarro was not involved in these illegal activities. which President Gustavo Petro has also come out to reject.
And although he added that The President asked for adjustments in the DNI, he has not explained why Chavarro was ‘sacrificed’, who had been brought by Casanova to promote an intelligence school.
The former police officer was head of the Dijín Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Unit and the Drug Trafficking Analysis Unit. Also, private secretary to General Óscar Naranjo.
Investigation of René Guarín
The director of DAPRE, Laura Sarabia.
Photo:Private file
The Constitutional Court’s warning was joined this week by a letter from the heads of the high courts demanding a thorough investigation and respect for the independence of the judicial branch.
And the The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) issued a statement requesting an investigation into whether they have been victims of wiretapping.
And although The Government continues to deny this type of conduct – which in the past sent members of other governments to prison and forced the closure of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS))–, there were two other striking events this week.
After the return of the ghost of wiretapping, Dapre, headed by Laura Sarabia, ordered that the Secretariat for Communications and Press and the Technology Directorate of the Presidency be investigated.
This last unit is headed by René Guarín, another ex-M19 who was also in the DNI. Guarín told EL TIEMPO that the investigation was welcome and that he hopes that the general assumption that is pointing him out will come forward and provide the evidence.
Mazo and Ecopetrol
Colonel (r) Juan Carlos Mazo Giraldo, head of the Military Industry (Indumil)
Photo:Private file
To clear any suspicion The Government also announced the conclusions of an inspection of the DNI in which it is ruled out that they have the technical capacity to carry out ‘chuzadas’. And he assured me that the results would be sent to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Despite the forcefulness In González’s statements and in the attempts that several governments have made to unify intelligence, in the Army it is stated that there are two retired officers who pull the strings of the sector.
One of the ones they mention is Juan Carlos Mazo Giraldo, head of the Military Industry (Indumil); and the other, William Castellanos, former member of the Police.
Since January, the media has described Mazo as a man close to Iván Velásquez, Minister of Defense. They also attribute to him some movements in the military leadership and the reorganization of intelligence, diminished by the departure of several of its experts.
These are the conclusions of an inspection of the DNI in which it is ruled out that they have the technical capacity to carry out ‘tricks’.
Photo:DNI
In 2018, at the end of the Santos government, Mazo was a military attaché in Washington. But he was not called up for a general’s course.
Another person they attribute influence to is Police Major William Castellanos, security advisor in Gustavo Petro’s first campaign for the Presidency.
They link it to two recent episodes. The first, the fleeting stint of Colonel (r.) Richard Ibáñez as physical security manager of Ecopetrol, which the oil company attributed to Ibáñez’s personal reasons.
Police Major (r.) William Castellanos is remembered for detecting security failures at Casa de Nariño.
Photo:iStock
And the other, the detection of security flaws in Casa de Nariño after passing through 6 filters with an automatic gun.
EL TIEMPO contacted Casanova to find out the reasons for his departure and that of several of his subordinates, but he said he would not refer to the issue. Colonel Chavarro also remains silent, as does Mazo and Castellanos.
Meanwhile In regions such as Cauca, Valle and Arauca they continue to demand that the guard has been lowered on intelligence issues, opening spaces for terrorist groups that kill people with car bombs..
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
@UinvestigativaET
Follow us now on Facebook
