🕊️ In Memoriam: Mario Alberto Castaño Pérez 🕊️
This Saturday, November 18, former senator Mario Alberto Castaño Pérez died in La Picota prison in Bogotá, where he was serving a sentence for corruption. The National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec) reported that the former official died in the last few minutes, presumably due to a heart attack.
At this time, agents of the Inpec judicial police are at the scene, waiting to carry out the procedure that will clarify the causes of his death.
Mario Castaño, former senator of the Liberal Party, was sentenced in June of this year to 15 years and 11 months in prison by the Supreme Court of Justice. The sentence was based on his acceptance of leading a criminal structure that, in complicity with mayors, officials and individuals, appropriated considerable state resources.
Representative to the Chamber in the period 2014-2018 and later Senator of the Republic in 2022, Castaño was captured on June 7 of that same year. The conviction included charges such as conspiracy to commit a crime, embezzlement by appropriation, attempted embezzlement by appropriation, aggravated fraud and concussion.
The Supreme Court noted that, given his position as a congressman, Castaño was able to influence administrative and contracting procedures by having contact with various public sector officials.
The criminal network led by Castaño, known as ‘the Marionetas’, received attention this week when the Prosecutor’s Office announced the prosecution of Raúl Alfonso Cardozo Nuncira and Andrés José Ospina Rosales. Both were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and improper interest in the execution of contracts, related to irregularly benefiting from contracts worth 25,436 million pesos in Quindío and Tolima.
In this moment of reflection, the complexity of the ethical and legal challenges we face as a society stands out. The memory of Mario Alberto Castaño Pérez is marked by the consequences of his actions and the urgency of strengthening our transparency and accountability mechanisms. 🌹🇨🇴 #MarioCastaño #LuchaContraLaCorrupción #EticaPublica
