In an interview with a local radio station, a woman who posed as Mr Uribe’s wife said the two had been married for 18 years and had three children with good job opportunities. “
She said her husband had been examined on the false positives case but was exonerated.
Colombian officials said some of the defendants left Bogotá in May and flew to Panama before traveling to the Dominican Republic and then Haiti. Others arrived in the Dominican Republic in early June and then traveled to Haiti.
Colombia has a large military that has fought left-wing guerrilla groups, paramilitaries and drug traffickers for decades, often with US money and training. Thousands of young Colombian men have been drafted into the military over the years, but they often leave the service with limited career opportunities.
This has made them attractive to people looking for rented guns. Until 2015, for example, the United Arab Emirates secretly sent hundreds of Colombians to Yemen to fight in the violent civil war. Many stayed because of the high wages, according to previous New York Times reports, with Colombians receiving salaries of up to $ 3,000 a month, compared to about $ 400 a month they would earn at home.
“When an economic underclass is taught how to fight, how to conduct military operations, and little else, those skills cannot easily be transferred to the civil sector, except in the area of private security,” said Paul Angelo, a council scholar on Foreign relationships that investigate security issues.
On Friday, General Luis Fernando Navarro, the commander of the Colombian Army, said the defendants left the military between 2002 and 2018. He said the men were involved in “mercenary activities” and that their motives were “purely economic”. ”
Natalie Kitroeff and Anatoly Kurmanaev reported from Mexico City, Catherine Porter from Toronto and Julie Turkewitz from Bogotá, Colombia. Reporting was contributed by Julian Barnes, Eric Schmitt, and Adam Goldman of Washington; Sofia Villamil from Cartagena, Colombia; Edinson Bolaños from Bogotá, Colombia; Simon Romero from Albuquerque, NM; Andre Paulte and Milo Milfort and Harold Isaac from Port-au-Prince.