Jhonny Meriño Arrieta, Oscar Peña Navarro and Eduardo Campo Carvajal had been acquitted earlier, in 1996, along with a list of others believed since 1993 to have been implicated in the murder.

The Barranquilla court, as in the previous instances, ruled that the prosecution had been unable to prove Liévano Alcocer’s guilt.

The name of Liévalo Alcocer, bodyguard of former mayor and Catholic priest Bernardo Hoyos, surfaced during the investigation in 1994 in a statement given by a witness in the murder case who agreed to be identified in exchange for an offer of protection by the Attorney General’s Office. Also implicated at the time was Alfonso Zapata, a cousin of hitman Enrique Somoza, a.k.a. Garnacha, who himself was murdered in 1994. Although believed involved in the journalist’s murder, Zapata had been freed for lack of evidence.

The witness testified that her husband, the hitman Garnacha, had been paid 5 million pesos by Liévano Alcocer in 1993 to kill Lajud Catalán. Her husband carried out the contract, she said, because former mayor Hoyos needed to silence the journalist who had been constantly attacking him while he was in office.

Lajud Catalán, host of the show “Actividad Deportiva” (Sports Action) broadcast by Emisoras ABC radio station, was killed by a hitman on April 19, 1993, as he headed to the radio station at 7:15 a.m.

He had exposed a number of instances of corruption in the local administration, in particular kickbacks in the award of contracts in the privatization of the telephone company that he alleged involved Hoyos, the city mayor at the time, and other local politicians and businessmen.

Following is the chronology of events:

• April 1993: Barranquilla police arrest Jhonny Alberto Meriño, Eduardo Campo Carvajal and Oscar Peña Navarro and charge them with having carried out the murder.

• November 1993: A witness who testified against the accused is murdered.

• March 1994: A witness testifies that Enrique Somoza, a.k.a. Garnacha, is the murderer of Lajud Catalán. Garnacha is himself killed a few days later.

• May 1996: Meriño, Peña and Campo are tried and sentenced to 40 years in prison, but are later acquitted on appeal.

• June 21, 1999: Alfredo Liévano Alcocer and Alfonso Zapata are jointly accused of having committed aggravated homicide.

• June 30, 1999: Zapata is ordered held in custody, but on February 28, 2000, the order is reversed and he is released from custody.

• June 5, 2000: Liévano Alcocer is ordered held in custody and on December 27, 2001, he is formally charged with aggravated homicide.

• October 2, 2002: Barranquilla District Criminal Court acquits Liévano Alcocer.

At the insistence of the IAPA the Attorney General’s Office appeals the acquittal.

October 6, 2003: The Barranquilla Superior Court upholds the acquittal.

Catholic priest Bernardo Hoyos is dropped from the investigation because no evidence has been produced that he was involved in masterminding the murder.