Severe look behind his glasses and his FFP2 mask, navy blue sweater decorated with a blue-white-red badge on the shoulder, black gloves… On September 21, 2022, Mario Alfredo Sandoval appears to have donned a French police uniform for appear before the court of Buenos Aires, where he is tried for the kidnapping and torture of a student during the Argentine dictatorship, in 1976. It is one of the first times that this former Argentine policeman speaks in public. “I am a human rights defender, he declares. It was in this capacity that I participated as an observer in the Colombian conflict and that the French government asked me to intervene for the release of Ingrid Betancourt. »
This man accused of having been a torturer allegedly helped France try to rescue MMyself Betancourt, hostage of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) between 2002 and 2008? His declarations – explosive – did not provoke reactions in Paris, neither at the Elysée nor at the Farnesina. However, Mario Sandoval, who will be sentenced to fifteen years’ imprisonment in December 2022 – he then filed an appeal – claims he acted “with all equipment and support” authority.
Asked by The worldFrench diplomats involved in peace talks in Colombia or for the liberation of Franco-Colombian deny having met the latter during these negotiations. “Sandoval, I heard him as one of the names circulating in the Colombian movement, but nothing more”, explains Pierre Vimont, chief of staff of three successive foreign ministers. Dominique de Villepin, minister from 2002 to 2004, says she does not know him. Ditto for Bernard Kouchner (2007-2010). “Maybe they told me about him, but as a character who went around the suburbs”says for his part Daniel Parfait, former ambassador to Bogotà (2000-2004), director of the Americas at the Quai d’Orsay (2004-2008) and companion of Ingrid Betancourt’s sister.
A reputed bloodthirsty leader
What role did this man with a curriculum as a simple temporary teacher in several public and private French universities play in the Betancourt affair? One certainty: he knows Colombia well. To measure how much, we have to put ourselves in the context of the late 90’s. This country was then in flames and bloodshed. A war that does not say his name causes kidnappings, attacks, massacres and trafficking in drugs and weapons. The far-right paramilitaries of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) are responsible for most of the killings with the complicity of the army. In front of them, the Marxist guerrillas of the FARC and the Guevarians of the National Liberation Army.
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