A case of forced disappearance occurred in Fusagasugá, Cundinamarca, in 2002, again captured public care after relatives of the victims broke the silence and new testimonies were known that involve the Colombian exciclist Lucho Herrera as alleged intellectual author of the facts. As reported news onethe judicial process advances with the collection of statements and evidence that could clarify what happened more than two decades ago.
According to the story of Andrés Fabián Rodríguez, nephew of Diuviseldo Torres Vega, one of the four victims, the night of the disappearance was marked by horror and uncertainty. Rodríguez narrated that his uncle was taken by force from his home by men carrying vests, caps and bracelets of the extinct Administrative Department of Security (DAS). As explained to the local environment No control newsthe men arrived in a Toyota truck and, after identifying Torres Vega, they handcuffed him and climbed him to the vehicle under the threat of shooting him if he did not cooperate. Since then, his family did not know him again.
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The case took an unexpected turn when two former members of the peasant self -defense groups of Casanare declared that Lucho Herrera, recognized for his career in cycling, would have ordered the disappearance of four neighbors. According to the testimonies, Herrera would have pointed out the victims as alleged guerrillas, although, according to alias minor, one of the paramilitaries convicted of the crime, these accusations were false and were aimed at appropriating the lands of the disappeared.
The testimony of “small”, revealed by News onedetails that the victims were taken to a farm located on the road between Novilleros and Aguadita, where they were killed and buried. In addition, the paramilitary said that the cyclist would have delivered photographs of the victims and a sum of $ 40 million to execute the crime. The names of missing people, officially confirmed this week, are Gonzalo Guerrero Jiménez, Víctor Manuel Rodríguez Martínez, José del Carmen Rodríguez Martínez and Diuviseldo Torres Vega.
For the families of the victims, the pain of loss has been aggravated by the lack of responses for more than twenty years. Andrés Fabián Rodríguez told the local environment how his family received information on Herrera’s possible involvement through a judicial document. “My mother gets a report from the Prosecutor’s Office of a court where they allegedly mention Mr. Lucho Herrera. Some exparamilitaries make accusations that he has to do with the issue,” said Rodríguez, who also expressed confusion and the impact that this news has generated in his environment. “We are in shock, we do not know if it is a lie, we do not know whether to believe or not because Lucho Herrera is a neighbor, he was raised here. Hopefully things are clarified and God wants not to be so. And if it is true, that justice does its due process,” he added.
Torres Vega’s nephew also recalled the moments of anguish lived on the night of the disappearance. According to his story, the armed men who took their uncle acted with intimidation and violence, pointing him with a gun and threatening him in front of his relatives. “They rode him in Plato, they enchanted him and took him unknown to him,” he said.
In response to the accusations, Lucho Herrera issued a statement in which he categorically denied any link with criminal organizations or illegal acts. In the document, composed of five points, the exciclista assured that he has always led a life dedicated to sport and honest work. “I have never belonged to criminal organizations or intended to cause any person to any person. My life I have dedicated to sport, and after my withdrawal from professional cycling, to work honestly,” he said.
The former champion also rejected the imputations that, according to him, seek to damage their reputation and trajectory. “I emphatically reject the imputations that intend to mitigate my name and my career as a citizen, worker and father,” he added. He also expressed his willingness to collaborate with the authorities in the development of the investigation and to provide the necessary statements to clarify the facts.
