Bogota, Colombia – Ivan Velasquez first made a standing for himself as a prosecutor in Medellin within the 1990s, when he reportedly refused to fair obtain a briefcase of money from Pablo Escobar to tumble investigations into the drug lord’s existence of luxurious in penal advanced.
He won prominence by investigating the ties between Colombian paramilitary forces, politicians and the industry neighborhood on the height of the civil war. His work in the end led to the conviction of additional than 60 politicians, together with the cousin of wierd President Alvaro Uribe. And he is no longer any stranger to deepest risk: Staunch thru a landmark probe into financial ties between the industry neighborhood in Antioquia and paramilitary teams, 14 investigators in his place of job were murdered.
On August 7, Velasquez will change into defence minister within the administration of President-elect Gustavo Petro. He’ll decide place of job amid a bunch of security challenges: rising violence in rural areas with shrimp or no speak presence, chronicle coca manufacturing, and criminal armed teams who delight in grown in vitality for the reason that nation’s ancient 2016 peace accord with rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Petro, who will change into the first leftist president in Colombia’s standard ancient previous, vowed on the campaign path to greatly reform police and army forces. His appointment of Velasquez, who additionally worked because the head United Countries authentic on the International Commission in opposition to Impunity in Guatemala, sends a robust message that he intends to put together thru.
The appointment has sparked harsh criticism from Petro’s critics, who heed his previous as a riot fighter with deep suspicion. Velasquez “has taken a solid space in opposition to those of us within the defense force”, Raul Musse Pencue, a retired profession soldier, told Al Jazeera. “We misfortune he’ll herald a widespread persecution of defense force personnel who delight in undergone investigations related to their day after day duties as troopers in provider to their nation.”
Moral-soar Senator Paloma Valencia went extra, telling local media that the appointment “reveals a total absence of democratic guarantees … [and] puts all of our lives in hazard”.
Nonetheless those who delight in worked closely with Velasquez in both Colombia and Guatemala paint a really varied image: actually one of a soft-spoken and apolitical anti-corruption crusader who continuously keeps a cool head, even all the design in which thru times of gruesome deepest hazard.
“He isn’t politically motivated,” Gregorio Oviedo, a prosecutor who worked alongside Velasquez in Medellin, told Al Jazeera. “His complete profession, he has advocated for human rights. He is conscious of lead. He is conscious of investigate, and most importantly, he is conscious of what it is to are living and work in regions of the nation most politicians simplest be taught about from Bogota.”
Stephen McFarland, the weird and wonderful US ambassador to Guatemala, additionally welcomed the appointment: “Uribe has accused him of getting a political agenda. As long as I even delight in known him, his simplest agenda has been to model a clear and self reliant justice machine.”
‘Remarkable message’
Velasquez’s work has made him many enemies. His place of job in Medellin used to be illegally bugged by Colombian intelligence and his security crew infiltrated. His deepest bodyguard on the time used to be a gaze for the nation’s Administrative Department of Security, which used to be dissolved in 2011 after a spate of conditions of illegal surveillance of journalists, human rights workers, politicians and judges went public.
He reportedly refrained from a kidnapping attempt in Guatemala when authorities officials allegedly tried to deport him extrajudicially, and he has persisted limitless death threats in opposition to both himself and his household in both countries.
Velasquez’s anti-corruption work in Guatemala led to profitable convictions in opposition to ex-President Otto Perez Molina, his weird and wonderful vice president, seven ministers, and dozens of politicians and businessmen. Velasquez used to be declared persona non grata by then-President Jimmy Morales in 2017 and exiled from the nation.
“He arrested excessive-level businessmen for financial crimes – folk from the richest families in Guatemala,” McFarland told Al Jazeera. “Those who earlier than Velasquez arrived notion they were untouchable.”
Petro, who steadily denounced corruption while he used to be on the campaign path, “is sending a robust message that the times of impunity, when the authorities would perchance well flip a blind gape to the excesses of public forces, are over”, Oviedo acknowledged. “Civilian law will be revered.”
Abuses by police and army forces delight in advance underneath rising scrutiny in contemporary years, as authentic investigations delight in published stressful little print of rights abuses, together with the “unfounded positives” scandal wherein extra than 6,400 civilians were killed by security forces, who falsely claimed the victims were enemy opponents.
Velasquez has expressed give a capture to for Petro’s thought to space police, who currently document to defense force tell as a part of the defence ministry, underneath civilian control. The reform used to be suggested by the UN closing twelve months after an investigation into police violence all the design in which thru nationwide protests, where dozens were killed in a crackdown by security forces.
Petro has additionally promised to reimplement aspects of the 2016 peace deal that were delayed or dismantled by the outgoing administration of Ivan Duque. As a part of his efforts to implement “total peace”, Petro has equipped to barter novel disarmament talks with rebels who weren’t a part of the FARC peace deal. Nonetheless this thought additionally entails dialogue with teams such because the Gulf Clan, which has grown increasingly extra aggressive, shutting down big parts of the nation by force and killing dozens of police officers.
Will they be willing to barter with an ex-guerilla president and a prosecutor who has centered them for a protracted time? Oviedo isn’t sure, however he notes that Velasquez “has the resolution, the power, and the experience to come to a decision the first steps in the direction of accurate justice in Colombia. Nonetheless he is in for a hell of a fight.”