Colonel Óscar Dávila paid 50 million pesos (about $12,000) in cash last Friday, hours before he died, as an advance on his legal defense, as reported by W Radio on Wednesday. The policeman, until then head of the anticipatory security office of the Colombian Presidency, had met the day before with Miguel Ángel del Río, a lawyer close to Petrismo whom he asked to be his defender in an imminent criminal investigation. The cost of the defense was between 300 and 500 million pesos, but the colonel could not pay that amount and Del Río agreed to make a reduction due to the importance of the case. On Friday, Dávila was found dead, presumably after taking his own life.
The Prosecutor’s Office was investigating the uniformed man for the case of Marelbys Meza, indicated for the theft of a briefcase with several thousand dollars in the house of the former chief of staff, Laura Sarabia. As part of the Headquarters for Presidential Protection, Dávila was at the center of attention for the use of a lie detector and the interception of the telephones of Meza and another former employee of the then right-hand man of President Gustavo Petro.
On Friday, June 2, the police officer had expressed his willingness to contribute to the investigation, in a letter presented on Monday, June 5, to the attorney general, Francisco Barbosa: “I inform you of my absolute availability to appear before the office of the investigative entity, in order to to give an interview on the occasion of the facts of public knowledge (…) that involved high-ranking officials of the Presidency”. A week later, however, he was found dead in his car.
Lawyer Del Río assures that Dávila committed suicide as a result of the threats he received from an official of the Prosecutor’s Office, about which the colonel had spoken to him the day before. “They warned him not to stop ‘until he drew blood.’ Today he took his own life with his crew weapon. The Prosecutor’s Office is an infamous persecution ”, stated on friday. The next day, he redoubled his criticism of the prosecuting entity: “[Dávila] a brave man who wanted to defend and who sought me out for help. His great fear was persecution by the Prosecutor’s Office. I will clearly demonstrate the miseries of the Prosecutor’s Office. I’m not afraid of them.”
However, Del Río has announced that he will not attend the Prosecutor’s Office after receiving a summons to elaborate and he has preferred to send a letter that he made public in which he explains his entire short relationship with Dávila. I have no additional information to give. (…) As a defense attorney, I have no knowledge of the causes of death, ”he said this Wednesday in W Radius.
Legal Medicine has not yet given the results of the autopsy, but the indications point to a suicide. Not only the Prosecutor’s Office points out this hypothesis, but also Del Río and President Petro, who recounted Saturday on Twitter the version of a witness: “Near his house he sent his driver for a bottle of water, he left his gun on the seat and when he returned in front of him he committed suicide by shooting himself in the temple with the gun he had left behind.” The president, however, did not speculate on the motives.
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Miguel Ángel del Río pointed out this Wednesday that “it would not make sense” for someone who aspires to end his life to decide to seek a lawyer in the hours before. He believes that something happened on Friday that made the police officer decide to take his own life. Likewise, he has recognized that it is usual to receive such significant payments in cash, despite the fact that ideally it should be done through consignments. In this case, the money never made it to Del Rio, but to an associate investigator who returned it to Davila’s widow.
The prosecuting entity reported this wednesday that next week he will communicate the results of the investigation into the colonel’s death. It has also requested caution in the handling of the hypotheses: “Citizens are calling for responsible handling of the information and to avoid the disclosure of unfounded speculations and versions that may violate rights or alter the development of the investigations” .
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