Ramiro Suárez Corzo
Encyclopedia
Ramiro Suárez Corzo is a Colombian
Colombian people
Colombian people are from a multiethnic Spanish speaking nation in South America called Colombia. Colombians are predominantly Roman Catholic and are a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...

 politician. Former Mayor of the Colombian city of Cúcuta
Cúcuta
Cúcuta is a Colombian city, capital of Norte de Santander, in the northeast of the country. Due to its proximity to the Colombian-Venezuelan border, Cúcuta is an important commercial center. The city has the constitutional category of Special District. It is located at the most active...

, Norte de Santander.

Early life

Suárez-Corzo was born in Encino
Encino, Santander
Encino is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia.*-Trivia:Encino is EXACTLY the opposite side of the world from the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta....

, Santander Department
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, east of the Magdalena River, bordered to the south and southeast by Boyacá, to the northeast by Norte...

 to a humble family. He started working at a very young age. At age 11 he left Encino to Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

 where he worked on many jobs, including automotive maintenance. In the mid 1970s he then moved to Cúcuta
Cúcuta
Cúcuta is a Colombian city, capital of Norte de Santander, in the northeast of the country. Due to its proximity to the Colombian-Venezuelan border, Cúcuta is an important commercial center. The city has the constitutional category of Special District. It is located at the most active...

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

He later became chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...

 of a congressman named Mario Said Lamk Valencia member of the National Salvation Movement led by conservative leader
Colombian Conservative Party
The Colombian Conservative Party , is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was unofficially founded by a group of Revolutionary Commoners during the Revolutionary War for Independence from the Spanish Monarchy and later formally established during the Greater Colombia...

 Álvaro Gómez Hurtado
Álvaro Gómez Hurtado
Álvaro Gómez Hurtado was a Colombian lawyer, politician, journalist and active member of the Colombian Conservative Party. Gómez was a son of the former President of Colombia, Laureano Gómez...

. 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 with 127,800 votes.http://www.eltiempo.com/nacion/oriente/2007-05-22/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3565180.html

Paramilitarism

On June 29, 2004, Suárez was captured in Cúcuta for having ties with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia was created as an umbrella organization of regional far-right...

 (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 ended.http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/2007-04-05/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3505201.html

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 as a Judicial Advisor.http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/2007-04-05/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3505201.html In May, 2007 Salvatore Mancuso
Salvatore Mancuso
Salvatore Mancuso Gómez, also known as "el Mono Mancuso","Santander Lozada" or "Triple Cero", among other names is a Colombian paramilitary leader, once second in command of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia paramilitary group...

 the detained paramilitary leader of the demobilized AUC paramilitary group
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia was created as an umbrella organization of regional far-right...

 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 life.http://www.eltiempo.com/nacion/oriente/2007-05-22/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3565180.html

Another captured paramilitary leader named Jorge Iván Laverde aka "El Iguano", member of the AUC Frontier Front 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 of being behind the accusations against him as retaliation for combating them.http://www.elespectador.com/elespectador/Secciones/Detalles.aspx?idNoticia=12753&idSeccion=22

Cúcuta Deportivo

Suárez as Mayor of Cúcuta was supposedly managing the football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 team Cúcuta Deportivo
Cúcuta Deportivo
Corporación Nuevo Cúcuta Deportivo is a football club based in the city of Cúcuta, Norte de Santander, Colombia. The club was officially founded on September 10, 1924 and plays its home games at the General Santander Stadium, which has a capacity of 45,000....

 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 so.http://www.eltiempo.com/nacion/oriente/2007-05-22/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3565180.html
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