Colombian cycling great Luis Alberto “Lucho” Herrera has denied allegations made by an ex-paramilitary fighter that the 1987 Spanish Vuelta champion was involved in the slayings of four farmers 23 years ago.
A judge asked the prosecutors’ office to investigate if Herrera asked two paramilitaries in 2002 to kill the farmers, who were his neighbours in Fusagasugá, a town located 70 kilometres south of Bogotá.
“I have never belonged to criminal organisations nor have I ever intended to cause harm to anyone,” the 63-year-old Herrera said in a statement.
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“I have dedicated my life to sport, and after my retirement from professional cycling, to working honestly.”
Herrera, one of his generation’s best climbers, became the first Colombian to win the Spanish Vuelta and has been a role model for other prominent cyclists such as Nairo Quintana.
The allegations became public Monday after an investigation by local channel Noticias Uno revealed the sentencing of two convicted paramilitary fighters who admitted killing the farmers.
Luis Alberto “Lucho” Herrera. Supplied
Luis Fernando Gómez, alias “Ojitos,” claimed that he met with Herrera to receive instructions before committing the crime. He said Herrera gave them photographs of the farmers, claiming they were leftist guerrillas, along with an envelope containing money to buy weapons and a motorcycle. He added that after committing the crime, he realised the farmers were not guerrillas, but that they had refused to sell land to Herrera.
The other paramilitary, identified as Óscar Andrés Huertas, alias “Menudencias,” said that after the murder, they buried the bodies on a farm.
“We slit their throats and then dismembered them with a machete,” Huertas stated in his account, according to excerpts from the released verdict.
A judge sentenced both of the men to 22 years in prison.
Paramilitary groups emerged in Colombia in the 1970s to combat leftist guerrillas and continued to thrive until the early 2000s.
Herrera stated that he was informed of the judge’s decision to order an investigation through the press and rejected with “absolute force” the accusations that “seek to tarnish my name and my career”.
He also said that he does not know the two paramilitaries.
“I will be willing to make public statements once I know concretely and precisely the charges against me by people I do not know and I can prove my complete innocence,” Herrera said.
