Jorge Aurelio Noguera Cotes (born 25 September 1963) is a Colombian lawyer, former Director of the
Administrative Department of Security
The Administrative Department of Security ( es, Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS) was the security service agency of Colombia, which was also responsible for border and immigration services. It was dissolved on 31 October 2011 as pa ...
(DAS), the
intelligence service
An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives.
Means of informatio ...
agency of
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and a polemical convicted murderer who served during the direct orders of the president Álvaro Uribe Vélez. A
Liberal party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
politician, he served as regional campaign manager in the
Department of Magdalena for then-candidate
Álvaro Uribe Vélez Álvaro (, , ) is a Spanish, Galician and Portuguese male given name and surname (see Spanish naming customs) of Visigothic origin. Some claim it may be related to the Old Norse name Alfarr, formed of the elements ''alf'' "elf" and ''arr'' "warrio ...
during the
2002 presidential elections. After Uribe's victory in the elections, Noguera was appointed Director of the DAS, serving from 2002 to 2005, after which time he was appointed
Consul-General
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
if Colombia in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in 2006.
On 14 September 2011, the Penal Chamber of the
Supreme Court of Colombia
The Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia ( es, Corte Suprema de Justicia de Colombia) in Bogotá is the highest judicial body in civil and penal matters and issues of criminal and civil procedure in Colombia. The Supreme Court of Colombia is th ...
found Noguera guilty and sentenced him to 25 years in prison for
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
to commit
aggravated
Aggravation, in law, is "any circumstance attending the commission of a crime or tort which increases its guilt or enormity or adds to its injurious consequences, but which is above and beyond the essential constituents of the crime or tort itself. ...
crime;
conspiracy to commit murder
Conspiracy to murder is a statutory offence defined by the intent to commit murder.
England and Wales
The offence of conspiracy to murder was created in statutory law by section 4 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and retained as ...
; destruction, suppression, and concealment of public documents; and the illegal unauthorized disclosure of secret information and activities, all stemming from his time as Director of the DAS and his involvement in the
paramilitary
A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
activities of the
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
The United Self-Defences of Colombia (''Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia'', or AUC, in Spanish) was a Colombian far-right paramilitary and drug trafficking group which was an active belligerent in the Colombian armed conflict during the period ...
(AUC) by allowing the DAS to be infiltrated by the AUC.
Paramilitary infiltration in the DAS
Noguera held the position as chair of the DAS throughout Uribe’s first term as president, Uribe would later name him as a consul-general in Milan during his second administration as president. Noguera later resigned to his post after the Colombian weekly magazine ''
Semana
''Semana'' (Spanish: ''Week'') is a weekly magazine in Colombia.
History
''Semana'' was founded in 1946 by Alberto Lleras Camargo (who would become president of Colombia in 1958) and that folded in 1961. It was relaunched by journalist Felipe L ...
'' revealed that judiciary investigations (judicial proceedings held against a plaintiff) linking him to paramilitary groups were currently taking place.
The
Colombian parapolitics scandal
The Colombian parapolitics scandal or "parapolítica" in Spanish (a combination of the words '' paramilitar'' and '' política'') refers to the 2006–present Colombian congressional scandal in which several congressmen and other politicians hav ...
originated as a result of the detention of former DAS chief of information technology, Rafael García Torres by Colombian authorities. García had been accused of using his position of authority in order to assist paramilitary groups and drug traffickers with extradition orders. Soon after the former allegations were proven to be legitimate, Garcia chose to collaborate with the authorities by identifying several other individuals involved in the corruption allegations making him a key witness in the scandal. One of Garcia’s numerous statements mentioned that Noguera Cortes used his position of influence in order to make the resources of the DAS readily available to the paramilitary group AUC which was led at the time by
Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, also known by his alias as Jorge 40. In addition to this, Garcia assured the authorities that Noguera personally provided the AUC with the necessary logistics to carry out assassinations against trade unionists throughout the country.
After the former accusations were revealed to the public, Noguera Cotes, who had been strongly backed by Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Velez, resigned to his post as acting consul-general in Milan to stand before judicial authorities. On 22 September 2007 Noguera was arrested under charges of conspiracy to commit crime and murder.
As news of these accusations reached president Uribe, he declared that if Noguera were to be found guilty, he would have to issue an apology to the country for having named him as consul-general. Noguera was named as one of the executive directors for Alvaro Uribe’s presidential campaign in the Caribbean coastal department of Magdalena in 2002. One week after his appointment under Uribe’s presidential campaign, Noguera was appointed head of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) for the next four years until his assignation as consul-general in Milan during Uribe’s second term as president.
On 23 March 2007, Noguera was released from detention because of procedural flaws after his lawyer was able to prove that (under the provision of the Superior Council of the Judicature of Habeas Corpus), that his client’s detention did not take place as specified by law – making Noguera’s arrest illegitimate since he was denied of this fundamental right. The case was then passed onto the hands of Attorney General
Mario Iguaran, who did not hide his dissatisfaction with the court’s decision; Iguaran quickly declared that he would launch an inquiry into the prospective actions that his office could take to counter-act this decision. Noguera was taken into custody for a second time on 6 July 2007, three months after his previous release.
In November 2007, the Attorney General’s office dismissed Noguero from his posts and barred him from holding public office for the next 18 years due to his collaboration with the far right-wing paramilitary group AUC. The charges included mismanagement of resources and falsification of data in order to benefit drug trafficking groups.
The prosecutor’s office continued to investigate Noguera’s case until 11 June 2008 when the Supreme Court of Colombia overturned the Attorney General’s office decision since the lead prosecutor, Mario Iguaran named a fiscal officer to lead the investigation against Noguera. This is a task would have been exclusively reserved for Iguaran since under the provision of fuero constitucional, only the country’s Attorney General has the ability to investigate the head of the DAS. Noguera was once again released from custody while waiting for yet another trial to be held against him while the Supreme Court sent forth copies of Iguaran’s findings to the Commission of Accusations, a committee led by the Chamber of Representatives to investigate the irregularities in the proceedings held against Noguera. On December 12, 2008 Noguera was once again arrested; the public prosecutor’s office accuses him of homicide and conspiracy to commit crime. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison on 14 September 2011.
Personal life
Born to Luís Aurelio Noguera and Maruja Cotes Blanco on 25 September 1963 in
Santa Marta
Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...
, Colombia, he graduated from the
Colegio San Luis Beltran, and attended the
Pontifical Xavierian University
The Pontifical Xavierian University (in Spanish Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) is a private higher education institution founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest, most traditional, and prestigious Colombian universities, directed by the Societ ...
in
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
where he obtain his
Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
in 1988.
[.]
References
External links
Arrestan a ex director de policía secreta colombiana por supuestos vínculos con el paramilitarismo(wikinews)
Uribe arremete contra medios que publicaron denuncias de corrupción en el DAS(wikinews)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Noguera Cotes, Jorge Aurelio
1963 births
Living people
People from Santa Marta
Pontifical Xavierian University alumni
20th-century Colombian lawyers
Directors of the Administrative Department of Security
Colombian parapolitics scandal
Colombian people convicted of murder