Ramiro Suárez Corzo (born in Encino, Santander in 1960) is a Colombian politician. Former

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of the Colombian city of

Cúcuta Cúcuta (), officially San José de Cúcuta, is a Colombian municipality, capital of the department of Norte de Santander and nucleus of the Metropolitan Area of Cúcuta. The city is located in the homonymous valley, at the foot of the East ...

Norte de Santander Norte de Santander (Spanish for Northern Santander) () is a department of northeastern Colombia. It is in the north of the country, bordering Venezuela. Its capital is Cúcuta, one of the country's major cities. Norte de Santander is bordere ...

and actually is a convicted

Murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...

Early life

Suárez-Corzo was born in Encino,

Santander Department Santander () is a department of Colombia. Santander inherited the name of one of the nine original states of the United States of Colombia. It is located in the central northern part of the country, borders the Magdalena River to the east, Bo ...

to a humble family. He started working at a very young age. At age 11 he left Encino to

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

where he worked on many jobs, including automotive maintenance. In the mid 1970s he then moved to

where he worked in construction, security guard, cab driver and neighborhood community leader. He later became

chauffeur A chauffeur () is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or a limousine. Initially, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to s ...

of a congressman named Mario Said Lamk Valencia member of the

National Salvation Movement The National Salvation Movement (''Movimiento de Salvación Nacional'') is a conservative political party in Colombia, founded by Alvaro Gómez Hurtado in 1990. At the legislative elections held on 10 March 2002, the party, as one of the many sm ...

led by conservative leader

Álvaro Gómez Hurtado Álvaro Laureano Miguel Gómez Hurtado A.K.A. Álvaro Gómez Hurtado (May 8, 1919 – November 2, 1995) was a Colombian lawyer, politician, painter, writer, journalist and former active member of the Colombian Conservative Party. Gómez was fou ...

. During this time (1982) he became good friends with Ángel Uriel García, then Municipal Secretary of Finance and Jorge García Herreros one of the most influential conservative politicians in the region. For the 2001 elections Suárez had increased his political influence and power and supported Manuel Guillermo Mora for mayor of Cúcuta, office for which Mora was ultimately elected. In 2003 Suárez then run for Mayor of Cúcuta and was

popularly elected Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they want to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen ...

with 127,800 vote

Legal problems

Paramilitarism

On June 29, 2004, Suárez was captured in Cúcuta for having ties with the

United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (''Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia'', or AUC, in Spanish) were a Colombian far-right paramilitary and drug trafficking group which was an active belligerent in the Colombian armed conflict during the ...

(AUC) paramilitary group. On January 6, 2005 was set in a trial and accused of meeting with paramilitaries to support them, among them one known by alias of "El Gato". On March 4, 2005 an attorney appealed the decision and the investigation ende

On April 4, 2007, the demobilized paramilitary John Mario Salazar aka. "El Pecoso" accused Suárez of the being the mastermind behind the assassination of José Agustín Uribe, who worked for the Government of Norte de Santander, Government of

as a Judicial Adviso

In May, 2007

Salvatore Mancuso Salvatore Mancuso Gómez, also known as "el Mono Mancuso", "Santander Lozada" or "Triple Cero" (i.e. "Triple Zero", or, "000"), among other names (born August 17, 1964 in Montería, Córdoba Department, Córdoba) is a Colombian people, Colombian ...

the detained paramilitary leader of the demobilized AUC paramilitary group that he had agreed to support Suárez' election for Mayor of Cúcuta. Suárez denied all these allegations saying that these were all lies from a delinquent and that he had never met Mancuso in his lif

Another captured paramilitary leader named Jorge Iván Laverde aka "''El Iguano''", member of the

AUC Frontier Front AUC may refer to: * or , Latin for "from the founding of the city" (of Rome), used for dates * African Union Commission, the executive/administrative branch or secretariat of the supranational organisation * Ammonium uranyl carbonate, a chemical ...

testified that Suarez-Corzo had asked the AUC paramilitary group to kill as a favor the former adviser to the city of Cucuta, Alfredo Enrique Flórez. Suárez testified for both cases alleging the same defense arguments, declaring himself innocent and unrelated to paramilitary groups. Suerez Corzo accused the emerging paramilitary group ''

Águilas Negras Black Eagles () was a term describing a series of Colombian drug trafficking, right-wing, counter-revolutionary, paramilitary organizations made up of new and preexisting paramilitary forces, that emerged from the failures of the demobilization ...

'' of being behind the accusations against him as retaliation for combating the

Cúcuta Deportivo

Suárez as Mayor of Cúcuta was supposedly managing the

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team

Cúcuta Deportivo Cúcuta Deportivo Fútbol Club S. A. (Spanish ), commonly referred to as Cúcuta Deportivo, is a professional Colombian football club from the city of Cúcuta. Founded on 10 September 1924, it is one of the oldest active football clubs in the co ...

indirectly overriding the president of this club Angel Uriel Garcia. According to El Tiempo newspaper Suárez was supposed to sell part of the team's stocks to the people of Cúcuta, 8.5% of the total 70%, instead he sold that 70% to his friends. He also authorized Cúcuta to be exempt of taxes until the year 2010, when the Colombian law only allows 1 year to do s

References

www.eltiempo.com
'' El Tiempo (Colombia), El Tiempo: Un "favor" para Alcalde de Cúcuta fue crimen de asesor de la Gobernación, dijo 'para' desmovilizado'' (A "favor" for the Mayor of Cúcuta was crime against the advisor to the Government f Norte de santander said "Para ilitary" demobilized.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Corzo, Ramiro Suarez Living people 1960 births Mayors of places in Colombia