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Colombian Governor Indicted for Murder

By Joel Himelfarb | Monday, 14 October 2013 09:03 AM EDT

A Colombian governor has been arrested on charges of murder and conspiracy, the BBC reported.

Prosecutors say that Juan Francisco 'Kiko' Gomez, governor of La Guajira province in northeastern Colombia bordering Venezuela, murdered political rivals and collaborated with criminal gangs and right-wing paramilitary forces.

Colombia's deputy attorney general, Jorge Fernando Perdomo, said Gomez was linked to the assassination of a Barrancas town official in 1997. He has also been charged with murdering two other people in 2000.

Perdomo said Gomez also is linked to Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, alias Jorge 40, commander of the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Tovar has been indicted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine and has been extradited to the United States for trial, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The BBC quoted Colombian media reports say Gomez's supporters surrounded his house in an attempt to prevent his arrest.

He was later taken away in an ambulance with an undisclosed ailment.

Last week, Gomez was charged with five counts of corruption in a separate case.

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