[ad_1]
Part of the Paisa clergy is mourning the death of the priest Gonzalo Palacio, this weekend, at the age of 87.
His companions remember him as a tough, faultless and discreet priest. However, Palacio came out of anonymity when he was formally linked to the investigation into the formation of the paramilitary group ‘the 12 apostles’, which today has called the cattle rancher Santiago Uribe Vélez to trial.
(It may interest you: the Prosecutor’s Office says that seven witnesses of Santiago Uribe lied)
The cattle rancher Santiago Uribe is prosecuted for the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime, formation of paramilitary groups and aggravated homicide.
Jaiver Nieto. TIME
In fact, on November 9, the trial hearing will resume to hear the final arguments of his lawyer, Jaime Granados, before the sentence is handed down.
(We invite you to read: Witness against Santiago Uribe requested freedom at the JEP)
In the middle of that process, the priest even came out, who never denied that from the pulpit he alerted the young people about the presence of the guerrillas in the zone and the danger for ranchers and residents.
The last that was known of the priest is that, in 2010, he was still giving masses in the parish of San Joaquín, in Medellín, where journalists stood guard to photograph him.
He alternated the Eucharist and confessions with summons from the Prosecutor’s Office.
Actions from the pulpit
Palacio, then the parish priest of Yarumal, was pointed out by witnesses to command the paramilitary group and to inspire its name. Witnesses recounted how the priest was the group’s alleged informant, hiding the rifles that members of the Police were supposedly lending and attacking alleged guerrilla aides from the pulpit.
(You may be interested: Spokesperson for Santiago Uribe uncovers his letters in the final stretch of the trial)
One of the witnesses in the case even went so far as to swear that the priest coordinated the illicit activities, issued orders and even pointed out the victims when he was patrolling wearing a ski mask.
On November 9, the trial against Santiago Uribe was resumed with the arguments of his defender, the criminal lawyer Jaime Granados.
Photo: César Melgarejo. TIME
“I have nothing to say, go to the Prosecutor’s Office,” he told EL TIEMPO after one of his masses. And he assured investigators that the accusations against him were revenge. In fact, he managed to be disengaged from the investigation. “I am in this case for slander and clarity in the preaching to face the crime,” he said in one of the investigations to which he was subjected.
One of the witnesses against him was former Yarumal Lilian Soto, now a Medellín prosecutor.
Soto was the one who initiated the complaints about the serial deaths, which later hit several people, including the priest and several merchants and ranchers, including Santiago Uribe, brother of former President Uribe Vélez.
In 1993, Soto made detailed reports on the deaths, which also implicated soldiers. And when the matter was under investigation, she received a call telling her to stop investigating or she would be killed.
He began by denying the existence of any link between his pastoral and personal activity with the sicarial group of ‘the 12 apostles’.
The findings were enough so that, on December 22, 1995, the Prosecutor’s Office ordered the capture of the father and heard him in defense.
However, on January 2, 1996, he refrained from imposing an insurance measure on him.
His statements never came out. But in the file against the cattle rancher Santiago Uribe the version that the priest gave before the authorities, in the company of his trusted lawyer, reads.
He began by denying the existence of any link between his pastoral and personal activity as a priest and the sicarial group of ‘the 12 apostles’, but added that in the supposed case that such a group had indeed existed, it seemed to him that the testimonial evidence that it incriminating was worthless because they were testimonies with reserve and based on simple street rumors.
In addition, he said that statements such as that he was “the spiritual guide of the gang of thugs” were due to deductions by investigators, without any evidentiary support.
Regarding other statements, the priest and his defense indicated that they were based on public rumors and that the declarants acted out of resentment.
In 2001, after at least one witness retracted, the Prosecutor’s Office decided to open an investigation to several people for their membership in the 12 apostles, but to preclude the case in favor of the priest, “because the evidence was insufficient” to establish a link with the criminal acts that were entrusted to him.
Defense of Santiago Uribe
In fact, the case of the priest was used by the defense of Santiago Uribe to warn that the tests carried out in those processes are demonstrative of the innocence of the farmer.
They insist that the accusation against Santiago Uribe is a creation of the political enemies of former President Álvaro Uribe.
In addition, they even went to a person suffering from schizophrenia to perform what they consider a setup after the Montealegre administration revoked an inhibitory order.
(It could be of your interest: ‘If Meneses is released, the JEP will have to expel him’: J. Granados)
“Santiago Uribe is innocent, and so we hope that justice will declare it. Already in the trial we recounted and demonstrated how the so-called star witness of the Prosecutor’s Office was prepared and who did it, ”the criminal lawyer Jesús Albeiro Yepes, spokesman for Santiago Uribe, told EL TIEMPO.
(See here all the articles of the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO)
In any case, the Prosecutor’s Office believes that there is substantive evidence against the farmer and that his defense presented false witnesses.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
[email protected]@UinvestigativaET
[ad_2]
