RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The former Colombian senator Aída Merlano, who fled to Venezuela, has exposed details of an alleged corruption network. It is said to have helped incumbent President Iván Duque and former President Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) to win the elections.
Merlano accused the powerful Colombian political families Char and Gerlein of having invested over six billion pesos (around 1.6 million euros) in buying votes for Duque on the Caribbean coast. They are also said to have paid 15 billion pesos (around four million euros) for Santos’ re-election campaign in cooperation with the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. Merlano disclosed the details in Caracas during an interview with the Colombian right-wing conservative star journalist Vicky Dávila for the online political newspaper ‘Semana’.
The Gerleins and Chars have been among the most powerful families on the Caribbean coast for over 100 years. With their youngest son Alejandro, ex-mayor of the northern metropolis of Barranquilla, the Chars are striving to elect the next president of Colombia. Another son, Arturo, is to become president of the senate. The Chars own an economic empire in the region. The situation is similar with the Gerleins. Roberto Gerlein was either a Senator or a Minister for over 40 years straight. His brother Julio and his children run the construction company Valorcon, a major contractor for public works projects.
Merlano himself was a confidant of both families for over two decades. She was elected to the Senate with their support but was arrested shortly afterwards on charges of electoral corruption. According to the ex-politician, the Char family had collected money from several contractors in the city of Barranquilla for Duque’s runoff election. Six billion pesos were Gerlein’s contribution. In addition, both families had used local politicians who owed them money to buy votes for Duque. The latter allegedly was aware of this.
The Gerlein family is also said to have invested 15 billion pesos in Santos’ re-election campaign for the period 2014 to 2018 in cooperation with the scandal-ridden Odebrecht company. In return, the government commissioned Santos Navelena – a consortium of Odebrecht and Valorcon – with a mega-construction project to build a navigable section of the Magdalena River. The Gerleins and Chars had donated the money in cash to Santos’ ally Germán Vargas Lleras. Vargas was Santos’ vice president from 2014 to 2017.
Merlano further said that the Char family controlled prosecution efforts through the controversial senior prosecutor Néstor Humberto Martínez (2016-2019). That is why no investigations against the Chars or Gerleins have advanced, Merlano said. Opposition members had in fact consistently denounced Martínez as corrupt and considered him Vargas’ right-hand man. Martínez had also been the legal advisor of Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, Colombia’s wealthiest banker and partner of Odebrecht in road construction projects. Merlano claims to have evidence to support all her testimony.
After almost one and a half years in custody, Merlano was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for buying votes in September. Shortly thereafter, she escaped during a doctor’s visit. In late January, Venezuelan police found her in Maracaibo under a fake ID and arrested her for identity fraud. She is currently being held in custody at the Helicoide secret service prison in Caracas. She said that she has felt safe since coming to Venezuela.
At a hearing at the Palace of Justice in Caracas, she stated that her escape was arranged by the Chars and Gerleins, not to free her, but rather to have her killed. After her escape, she was driven by unknown men to the northern town of Valledupar, where she was imprisoned and raped. In the interview with Dávila, Merlano recounted how she was able to escape from her new captivity and reach Venezuela.
Already in prison, Julio Gerlein, with whom Merlano had had an affair for many years, had warned her not to compromise the Chars or the Gerleins. As many aspects of her criminal case had not been handled properly, the ex-senator petitioned for a hearing to disclose everything she knew. However, the court did not want to hear her, she complains today.
Duque calls Merlano “corrupt and criminal”. He has requested her extradition to the self-proclaimed “interim president” Juan Guaidó, who however has no institutional authority on Venezuelan territory. Colombia’s chief prosecutor Francisco Barbosa refuses to initiate investigations into the Gerleins or Chars based on Merlano’s statements. In order to do so, he said, she would be required to be in the country and provide evidence. Meanwhile, the Colombian Supreme Court has launched a preliminary investigation into Arturo Char for assisting escape.
Duque’s left-wing opponent in the last presidential runoff election, Gustavo Petro, called on his voters to take to the streets in protest: If there has been electoral manipulation, as Merlano says, it would mean Duque’s government is illegitimate.