They capture in Colombia ex-policeman accused of femicide

The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, confirmed on Friday the capture in Colombia of former police officer Germán Cáceres, who has been a fugitive from justice since September 2022 after the femicide of his wife in a police station.

Cáceres “has been located and captured,” the president reported in a message posted on Twitter and assured that “once in the country, he will receive the full weight of the law.”

At a press conference, the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, stated that the detainee is in good health and reiterated the commitment of the institution in the “forceful” fight against gender violence.

Cáceres was found in a rural area of ​​Palomino, in the department of La Guajira, in the neighboring country, where he worked as a “bartender” in a cabin.

The procedures for his transfer to Ecuador will begin “within the framework of the law,” said Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Holguín, who did not estimate a specific time for the process and the arrival of Cáceres in national territory.

Holguín mentioned that on Friday night President Lasso communicated with his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro to thank the coordinated work of the Ecuadorian law enforcement agencies with the police, the army and the Prosecutor’s Office of that country.

The police commander, Fausto Salinas, was emphatic in pointing out that the police institution “does not protect or cover up for anyone.” The police high command together with the minister will travel to Colombia on Saturday to supervise the procedures.

It was announced that Cáceres, the third most wanted in the country for gender violence, will be taken to Santa Marta and later to Bogotá. His return to Ecuador will be in a Colombian police plane.

Elizabeth Otavalo, the victim’s mother, spoke through a message broadcast on social networks requesting “transparency”, while asking that Cáceres be placed “in safekeeping”, to avoid a “new escape” or “that we suicide”.

Quito lawyer María Belén Bernal, 34, went to a police training school where Cáceres worked, after which she was missing for a week. Her body was found on the Casitagua hill, in the surroundings of the institution. The State Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the fact, for which there is a cadet in custody.

Bernal’s femicide shocked Ecuadorian society and plunged the National Police into an institutional crisis.

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