Colombian police capture guerrilla convicted in 2006 killing of sister of former president

Colombian rebel nabbed in murder of ex-prez’s sis

BOGOTA — A Colombian guerrilla convicted in absentia in the kidnapping and killing of former President Cesar Gaviria’s younger sister was captured Friday in a house in southern Bogota, authorities said.

Beatriz Villalba, 25, was conducting spying operations for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in the capital when she was arrested after being under observation for four months, said Marilu Mendez, director of investigations for the prosecutor’s office.

Prosecutors allege Villalba was in charge of buying a building and modifying a vehicle used in the abduction and transportation of Liliana Gaviria Trujillo in 2006. Gaviria’s bodyguard was shot dead during the kidnapping in Pereira, a coffee-growing hub 110 miles (177 kilometers) west of Bogota.

Gaviria, then a 52-year-old real estate agent and owner of a transportation company, was later found dead with bruises on her head and a bullet wound in her abdomen.

Her older brother, Cesar Gaviria, was president of Colombia from 1991 to 1994 for the Liberal Party then served as becoming secretary general of the Organization of American States.

At the time of the killing, President Alvaro Uribe flew to the area to oversee the investigation and offered a $430,000 reward for the capture of Gaviria’s killers.

Villalba was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 60 years in prison for her alleged role in the abduction and slaying.

Colombia has for decades been submerged in a brutal internal conflict involving leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries, state security forces and drug traffickers.