Suspect in slaying of Colombian presidential hopeful arrested in Argentina

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

A suspect in the assassination of Colombian presidential hopeful and Senator Miguel Uribe has been arrested in Buenos Aires, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office in Argentina.

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

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

“According to the investigation conducted in Colombia, the attack was carried out by an organised criminal structure involving multiple actors,” the statement read.

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

The Prosecutor General’s Office said Castillo had 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 had issued an international alert for his capture.

Uribe, a conservative senator in Colombia, was shot in the head during a campaign event in the capital Bogota in June. After undergoing multiple surgeries, 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, prominent journalist Diana Turbay, had been killed in a cartel-linked abduction in 1991, and her story was immortalised in a nonfiction book, News of a Kidnapping, by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Colombian prosecutors have accused a local criminal network of organising Uribe’s killing, and several members have been arrested and sentenced.

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

Colombian prosecutors believe that 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) who operates under the alias Ivan Marquez.

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