They are accused of breaking into a property where the victims were, attacking them with machetes, and abandoning the corpses in a river.
The Attorney General’s Office successfully identified and prosecuted three suspects allegedly responsible for the murder of three community leaders and a minor, in facts that took place on a farm in the Calarcá Tetuán neighborhood, in Chaparral (Tolima), on May 23, 2022.
The people involved in the case are Fabriani Lozano Cutiva, Fran Yeferson Pérez, alias Ovejo; and Sneider Ramírez Dagua, alias Goku who were charged with homicide, criminal conspiracy, aggravated theft, and manufacturing, trafficking, or possessing firearms, accessories, parts, or ammunition, all aggravated offenses.
The evidence indicates that Lozano Cutiva allegedly gave instructions to commit the crime; and, along with the other two defendants, they were part of an armed group that broke into the property where the victims were, intimidated them in order to obtain information about the location of the money product of the sale of livestock, attacked them with machetes until they died, and abandoned their corpses in a nearby river.
The victims were Elisabeth Mendoza Taquez, leader and president of the Communal Action Committee in Calarcá Tetuán; and Marco Tulio Molina Rada, community leader and vice president of the Committee in the same area, his 16-year-old son; and Fabián Ricardo Verján Cortés, a member of the Commitee of Coexistence and Conciliation Commission.
The defendants did not plead guilty to the charges that were brought against them by a prosecutor from the Special Investigation Unit (Unidad Especial de Investigación UEI). According to a judge’s decision, they must serve another prison sentence, since they are currently deprived of their liberty for other crimes.
Nine people have been prosecuted and sentenced to prison sentences for the murder of the three community leaders and a minor in Chaparral. Among them is Marcos David Molina Mendoza, alias MC, son of one of the victims, who allegedly provided details about their whereabouts.
The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.