With her hair down, a yellow lightweight knit sweater, and discreet makeup, Rosa Angélica Tarazona Tarazona, aka ‘La Bebecita’, appeared last Thursday at a hearing where she sought judicial benefits.
As revealed exclusively by EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit, that day, the partner of alias Bendito Menor, leader of the Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra (ACS), was determined to seal a plea deal with the Prosecutor’s Office to negotiate the crime of conspiracy to commit a crime and serve only 36 months of house arrest.
Two falsehoods
Close to the 20-year-old woman say they do not understand how she was killed 24 hours later in the same operation in which her partner was killed, if she had already reached an agreement with the justice system accepting charges and was only awaiting the approval of a guarantees judge.
What has not been said is that, once the hearing record was reviewed, which EL TIEMPO revealed exclusively, data was found that was not true and would have invalidated the plea deal that ‘La Bebecita’ sought, who, among other roles, paid the hitmen’s payroll and gave orders to urban structures when ‘Bendito Menor’ was absent.
Although the young woman admitted that she was linked to the criminal gang her partner led, she gave false information that was corroborated after the operation in which she was killed.
False separation
The case prosecutor, Daniel Bustos, stated that although it was true that ‘La Bebecita’ did not accept the charges at the first preliminary hearing, she later expressed her desire to accept them through a plea deal.
And here came the first lie. Her lawyer stated: “My client has minor children in her care. Regarding the situation mentioned by the honorable representative of the Prosecutor’s Office, it tends to an explanation due to sentimental problems, from which my client currently no longer lives with Mr. Naín Pérez Toncel, who forcibly took her from her home“.
‘The same clothes’
“It is evident they tried to deceive justice. Mrs. Tarazona was in a car at the time of the hearing and then appeared in the same house where alias Bendito Menor was. It is false that they were separated and that he forcibly took her from her home,” explained an investigator. He added that they are verifying if the truck in the video is the same one found at the house where they were killed.
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He added that, after comparing the clothes ‘La Bebecita’ wore to the hearing, it was confirmed they were the same she wore when she was killed.
Additionally, EL TIEMPO revealed the role the woman played within the criminal organization and the fact that, after a first capture, she had not appeared again before the authorities: “She was not just the simple partner of alias Bendito Menor”.
Therefore, the Prosecutor’s Office did not agree that the 36 months she was willing to serve be under house arrest, claiming to be a single mother.
And now it is being reviewed whether someone close to ‘La Bebecita’ and her partner sought to mislead the judge and the Prosecutor’s Office itself.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com
@UinvestigativaET
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