Ex-Senate President in ‘parapolitics’ scandal dies
posted by Mimi Yagoub
Dec 26, 2013
Luis Humberto Gomez, a former Colombian senate president condemned for paramilitary ties, died on Wednesday. The politician was 52.
Gomez passed away after a heart attack he suffered while playing squash in the Club Campestre in his hometown of Ibague, only months after an early release from a jail sentence in Colombia’s “parapolitics” scandal during which numerous local and high-level politicians were tried for associating with the country’s drug-trafficking paramilitary organizations.
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At the time, this was the highest sentence given to any of the dozens of politicians who had been imprisoned in for “parapolitics” practices. Gomez is amongst the 12 out of the 13 past Presidents of the Senate to have been shamed for involvement with criminal organizations.
Accusations against Gomez also included allegedly ordering the death of colleague and member of the House of Representatives Pompilio de Jesus Avendaño, and shifting public money to fund terrorist groups.
Despite these heavy claims against his name, Gomez passed away a free man, as he was prematurely released from prison on April 10 this year. He reportedly earned the reduction of his nine-year sentence by giving classes in industrial engineering and breeding quails.
http://colombiareports.co/ex-senate-president-parapolitics-scandal-dies/
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