Suspect in murder of Colombian presidential hopeful arrested in Argentina | Crime News

Authorities say a Colombian man suspected of a logistical role in the assassination of Senator Miguel Uribe has been captured in Buenos Aires.

A suspect in the assassination of Colombian presidential hopeful and senator Miguel Uribe was arrested in Buenos Aires, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General in Argentina.

A statement Tuesday identified the suspect as a Colombian national named Brayan Ferney Cruz Castillo.

Following his arrest, Cruz Castillo will remain in custody as he faces eventual extradition. The Attorney General’s Office described him as part of a criminal conspiracy to kill Uribe.

“According to the investigation carried out in Colombia, the attack was carried out by an organized criminal structure that involved several actors,” the statement said.

“Evidence has emerged to suggest that Cruz Castillo may have been involved in logistical aspects of the attack.”

The Attorney General’s Office said Castillo entered Argentina illegally and was previously arrested in connection with a robbery case. They credited his latest arrest to cooperation with Colombian judicial authorities, who issued an international alert for his capture.

Uribe, a conservative senator in Colombia, he was shot in the head in June during a campaign event in the capital Bogota. After undergoing several operations, he died two months later, in August. He was 38 years old.

The shooting was met with shock and widespread condemnation. Uribe’s death was particularly symbolic.

His mother, the prominent journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in a cartel-related kidnapping in 1991, and her story was immortalized in a non-fiction book, News of a Kidnapping, by Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Colombian prosecutors accused a local criminal network of organizing Uribe’s murder, and several members were arrested and sentenced.

One suspect, a 15-year-old teenager accused of being the shooter, has been charged with attempted murder and possession of an illegal weapon. I did was sentenced to seven years in juvenile detention in August.

Colombian prosecutors believe the local group acted on behalf of a paramilitary faction known as the Second Marquetalia, led by a former commander for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) operating under the alias Ivan Marquez.

Authorities in Colombia ordered the arrest of seven figures in the Second Marquetalia in March in connection with the assassination.