Mauricio Pimiento Barrera (born March 17, 1961) is a Colombian politician, former

Senator of Colombia The Senate of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Senado de la República de Colombia) is the upper house of the Congress of Colombia, with the lower house being the House of Representatives. The Senate has 108 members elected for concurrent (non-r ...

. Pimiento was arrested on February 16, 2007 after being involved in the

Para-political scandal The Colombian parapolitics scandal or "parapolítica" in Spanish language, Spanish (a combination of the words ''Paramilitarism in Colombia, paramilitar'' and ''politics, política'') refers to the 2006–present Colombian Congress of Colombia, c ...

. On May 16, 2008 Colombian justice condemned Pimiento to 7 years in prison for conspirating with a terrorist group and electoral fraud.

Early life

Pimiento studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and graduated from the

Free University of Colombia Free University of Colombia ( es, Universidad Libre), also called Unilibre, is a nonsectarian, coeducational, private and nonprofit university based in Bogota, Colombia, with six satellite campuses located in Cali, Barranquilla, Pereira, ...

and has a master in Law from the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Career

Pimiento has been Secretary General and Sub-Director of the

National Institute of Social Security National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and General Director of the Co-Financing Fund for the Rural Sector. With the political support of the Araujo family in

Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Caesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. T ...

he became Governor of the Cesar Department between 1995 and 1997. he was later elected as

, participating in the first senate committee. Pimiento was arrested February 16, 2007 after being involved in the

References

External links

Caracol.com.co - Capturados otros cinco congresistas por el escándalo de la "para política"elcolombiano.com Rostros - Mauricio Pimiento
1961 births 20th-century Colombian lawyers Free University of Colombia alumni Colombian prisoners and detainees Governors of Cesar Department Living people Members of the Senate of Colombia Social Party of National Unity politicians Colombian parapolitics scandal Colombian politicians convicted of crimes {{Colombia-bio-stub