Alberto Santofimio

Alberto Rafael Santofimio Botero (Ibagué, June 17, 1942) is a Colombian lawyer and politician, a retired member of the Colombian Liberal Party.

He was Minister of Justice during the presidency of Alfonso López Michelsen in 1974, a two-time presidential candidate and senator. In June 2006 a trial began against him in which he was found guilty of being the instigator or determining factor in the murder of Luis Carlos Galán.

In October 2008 Santofimio was released in a second instance decision. However, on August 31, 2011, the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice ordered his recapture by revoking the ruling that had annulled the original conviction; He was sentenced to 24 years in prison for co-masterminding the murder of Luis Carlos Galán along with Pablo Escobar.In August 2018 he was called for investigation as also the alleged determiner of the crime against Rodrigo Lara Bonilla.

Biography

Alberto Rafael Santofimio Botero was born in Ibagué on June 17, 1942, into an upper-class family in the city. He graduated as a lawyer from the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, and quickly joined the Colombian Liberal Party, to which his grandfather belonged.

Santofimio began his political career at the end of the 1960s, when he was elected representative to the chamber for his department (Tolima), in 1968.

Minister of Justice (1974-1975)

In 1974 he was appointed Minister of Justice by the recently elected liberal president Alfonso López Michelsen, with whom he developed a close relationship. He was in charge for a year, being replaced by Hugo Escobar Sierra. That year he returned to Congress to occupy a seat as a representative to the chamber for the second time, being president of the corporation between 1977 and 1978.

In 1978 he was elected as a senator, occupying his seat until 1982, being briefly captured on corruption charges that he managed to dismiss.

Presidential candidacy (1981-1982)

In 1982, when he was a senator, Santofimio emerged as a safe bet for liberalism for the presidential elections of that year. With his nomination, the party intended to guarantee the continuity of liberalism in power after 8 years in government, from López to Turbay.

However, differences between the outgoing president and other members of the party, and the decision of Santofimio himself to decline his aspiration, paved the way for the re-election candidacy of former president López. In fact, Santofimio joined his campaign and returned to Congress, remaining in the corporation until 1994.

Although the polls benefited López's aspirations; the controversial administration of Turbay, and the division generated within the ranks of liberalism by the independent candidacy of former minister Luis Carlos Galán (supported by former president Carlos Lleras Restrepo, a political enemy of Turbay and López), led to the elections being won by the seasoned conservative candidate, Belisario Betancur (candidate in 1970 and 1978).

Alleged dealings with the mob

Escobar in 1982, during one of his political acts.

From 1982, the politician from Tolima began to generate a feeling of deep resentment towards Galán, according to several chroniclers, witnesses and friends of the politician. His relationship with drug trafficker Pablo Escobar also dates from this time, who Galán had expelled from the New Liberalism at the beginning of 1982, when he found out that his businesses were illegal, since only his partners knew of his status as a mafia boss until then; Escobar intended to reach Congress because of Galán's movement.

However, having been expelled from the party by Galán also generated a hostile attitude from the boss towards Galán. In 1983, Escobar entered Congress as second on the list of Jairo Ortega, a congressman elected in 1982 who was from the Santofimista ranks.

In 1983, the then Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, led a heated and tense debate in Congress, where he accused Escobar of being a drug trafficker, thanks to files from 1976 of the newspaper El Espectador, and consequently Escobar was expelled of Congress and lost his investiture. According to later versions, Santofomio instigated the murder of Lara Bonilla, which was carried out on April 30, 1984, since he was a close friend of his enemy, Galán.

Second presidential candidacy (1989)

In 1989, Santofimio fought a political battle for his party's official candidacy for the presidency in the 1990 elections. His campaign rivals were Hernando Durán Dussán, William Jaramillo Gómez, Ernesto Samper Pizano, and Luis Carlos himself Galán, who rejoined official liberalism after negotiations between former presidents Turbay, López and Lleras.

The party turned to Galán's candidacy, once again leaving Santofimio out of the presidential race. However, on August 18, 1989, Galán was assassinated in Soacha in a campaign event, leaving the way clear for the former minister and man of his confidence, César Gaviria, who was elected president the following year, after a violent race where they ended up Two more candidates assassinated.

Since then, accusations of interference by Alberto Santofimio in crime began to be more frequent as the years went by.

Indictments and sentences

Galán and Lara, two of the alleged victims of Santofimio, killed by Escobar's orders in 1989 and 1984, respectively.

In the 1990s, Santofimio was one of the politicians investigated in the scandal of the so-called Process 8000. He was prosecuted and found guilty of receiving money from drug trafficking to support his presidential candidacy, withdrawing his congressional investiture and disqualifying him from holding office permanently public. After his stay in jail for said crime, he regained his freedom.

Subsequently, he was found guilty of being one of the intellectual authors of the assassination of the politician and presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán in 1989 in complicity with the drug lord and head of the Medellín Cartel, Pablo Escobar.

During investigations into the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, Santofimio was mentioned as a rumor that he and other former presidential candidates may have been involved in influencing Escobar to carry out the crime. But he was exonerated in 1994 of any wrongdoing by the then attorney general and cousin of the assassinated candidate, Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento. Later he was framed by Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, alias "Popeye", a well-known hit man who was part of the Medellín Cartel. Modifying his original testimony given two years earlier, he confirmed Santofimio's participation in the crimes perpetrated by Pablo Escobar.

Casa de la familia Santofimio Botero in Ibagué, Colombia

On May 12, 2005, the investigation into Santofimio's role in Galán's murder began again, and he was arrested after compelling new evidence emerged. In October 2007 he was found guilty and sentenced to 24 years in prison. His lawyers immediately appealed to the Superior Court of Cundinamarca.

A year later, in October 2008, the Superior Court of Cundinamarca, alleging lack of evidence against the defendant, reversed the original judge's decision and ordered Santofimio's release. The court questioned the credibility of the only witness against the defendant, the aforementioned alias Popeye.

However, on August 31, 2011, the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia annulled the decision of the Superior Court of Cundinamarca based on law and ratified the original sentence, giving credibility to the version proven in Popeye's trial. The Court ordered the arrest of Alberto Santofimio Botero; he was accused of being an influential party in the murder not only of Luis Carlos Galán, but also of two other victims, Julio César Peñaloza and Santiago Cuervo, who were shot dead along with Galán.

Probation

On March 25, 2020, Santofimio was released on parole after serving three-quarters of his sentence and in consideration of his age, vulnerability to COVID-19.

Family

Alberto Santofimio is a member of a traditional family from Ibagué. He is the son of Alberto Santofimio Caicedo and Clara Botero Caicedo, both relatives. His only sister is Clara Lucía Santofimio Botero.

His father was the son of local politician Clímaco Botero, who was mayor of Ibagué on several occasions. Botero was, in turn, the father of the journalist, presenter and socialite Gloria Valencia de Castaño, whom he had conceived out of wedlock, and whom he would have hidden to avoid public ridicule in the society in which he lived. Gloria She was married to the journalist Álvaro Castaño Castillo, with whom she had her daughter, the journalist and designer Pilar Castaño Valencia.

In conclusion, Santofimio was a nephew on his maternal grandfather's side of Gloria Valencia de Castaño, and a cousin of Pilar Castaño.

Relationship with the López family

Santofimio was close to the family of the politician Alfonso López Michelsen, not only because of the political sphere and his personal affinity with him, but also because of the marriage ties of his relatives. Pilar, his cousin, was married to López's youngest son and his wife Cecilia Caballero Blanco, journalist Felipe López Caballero.