“LAS TENÍAMOS DRØG4D4S”: Secuestrador de las hermanas Zuluaga en CALI revela como cometió el crimen

In February 2009, the kidnapping of Carolina and Cynthia Zuluaga here in Cali, Colombia, caught a lot of attention. And of course, a few weeks later, the release of Cynthia, who was a citizen of the United States of Colombia, and later of Carolina, was also a very, very newsworthy event. And well, today I am in the Jamundi prison, which is about an hour

from Cali, with one of the protagonists, Oscar Albeiro Vados Peñaranda, who was convicted for the murder of these two girls. Oscar, thank you for being with us. Thank you for the invitation. Thank you for allowing us to tell this story and know your story. Yes sir. How long have you been in prison? I am going to complete 17 years in private. You are sentenced to? 48 years, almost 49 years. How does all this begin?

Since my youth, since 15, 16 years old I start to roll in my town which is a town

in the north of the valley, of La Victoria. I get along a lot with with people very powerful, very heavy. in the north of the valley, in La Victoria. I hang out a lot with with very powerful people, very heavy. I start at that age to get together, to be there

one thing, the other until I get soaked with everything. I start to belong, as they say, to the family.

When you say things, cosas como que?

Como, pues uno empieza haciendo mandados, lavando el carro, limpiando la moto, cuidando un caballo, y así sucesivamente. Hasta que uno se gana la confianza.

Ya está cerca de los que son, de los pesados. La mayoría no cocian. is already close to the ones that are the heavy ones. The majority of the people in the north of the valley are very powerful. Yes, many Colombians know that in the valley, the north was very sound. The topic of Africa and wars was very much sounded.

And there you grew up to do what?

To do bigger things. To charge, to deliver.

To charge? What is that?

I mean, I charge you, you owe me dinero, yo voy y te lo cobro.

¿Cómo?

Primero llego de buenas palabras. Señor, usted debe esta plata, por favor, necesitamos que cuadren. Ya si cuadraban bien, si no cuadraban, pues ya uno informaba a los superiores a sus a los a los que son el señor no paga señor dio que no pues entonces ya otros se encargan de cora de otra forma como ya apretando apretando es apretando es obligando a la fuerza sustrayendo Obliging to force, subtracting. Yes, you can say that.

That is my case. And what happens? They pay. Most pay, the rest of them don't pay. And unfortunately, forgive me the word, Rafa, I grew up more, until I no longer live in the north of the valley, but I move to live in the city of Bogotá.

With a very heavy man. I'm already next to him. As a bodyguard. I started as a bodyguard with him. He started to trust me because in the field, my family was also known by my father.

He already trusted me. My family was known by my father.

He trusted me. In 2007, he told me, I need you to go to Cali. That's your name, look at these addresses and see what these people have. I went down, Cali. Se alquila una casa, se montó una peluquería, y empiezo yo la labor de seguimiento, investigación, a recopilar datos. ¿Y ahí comenzaste a seguir a quién?

Ahí comencé a seguir a la señora Pilar. Quien era ella? La esposa de un señor que debía una plata. Y por qué no al señor? Porque el señor ya estaba muerto. El señor ya lo había matado. Y él había quedado debiendo una plata? And he had been owed a lot of money. How much? Between 2,500 and 3,000 million pesos. That was what he was charging.

And then?

We contacted Mrs. Pilar, in good terms, not in a threatening tone, not much less, so that the transfer of these properties could be signed. What properties were they? tono amenazante ni mucho menos. Pa' que ella se diera firmanos los traspasos de dichas propiedades. ¿Qué propiedades eran? Dos locales, un apartamento y una discoteca. La señora aceptó, sí, iba a hacer el traspaso de los documentos. Nos citamos que vamos de vernos en una notaría en la ciudad de Cali. Llegamos con ella efectivamente a la notaría.

Pero la señora al llegar a la notaría se postra nerviosa y empieza a llorar. Entonces yo la volteo a mirar. Entonces yo miro al cucho y le digo, mm-mm. Entonces yo la cogí y la saqué. La monté a la camioneta y nos fuimos. El cucho era quién? Un encargado de la organización. and we left. Who was the coach? An organization manager. Who was there with you. Who was there on duty because that was going to be the good thing.

We took her to the house we had rented, she got in the truck, I got in, I took out water, I gave her, take it, Mrs. Meryl Pirro. It's okay, relax. We're not saying anything bad. Because that attitude, if you had stayed... you know,

I said, no, what? She started crying, so, go away. I told her, no, that can't be done. It can't be done like that. She's going to play on the bad side. But I never thought they were going to play on my bad side.

I never thought. I went up in 2007. I went back to the city of Bogotá. And at the end of 2008, they told me, do you charge or do you charge for the money? me dicen se cobra o se cobra la plata. Usted ya sabe donde están las propiedades, donde esta todo, city of Cali.

The next day, they called me.

I said, I'm talking to Totoy.

He said, yes, talk to Calzones. I said, right?

He said, I need to meet you. I met the man. He said, look, now I'm in charge of collecting this. I need you to show me the apartment, the two premises and the disco. I went in and showed him. I was going to where I was staying. The next day, the third day, they call me and say,

they killed Julano, the one who was coming with you. And I, oh!

The man who was going to see you.

The man who was going to do the collection, the man who was coming with you, I was like, oh! The man who was going to see you. The man who was going to do the cover, the man who was going to see me. So, there where they tell me, you touched it, daddy. Well, one, shit on the hand,

let's shit all over the body.

Yes, it started to be the, the organigram,

everything, all the logistics. We already started to contact the deceased's daughters, Cynthia and Carolina. A lady was hired to serve as an intermediary to buy the disco.

That was the excuse. That was the excuse, to buy the club. That was the excuse.

That was the excuse, to buy the club. Well, from meetings, meetings come with the lady and the two girls, an agreement was reached. Ready, we are going to sell the club for 800 million pesos. They call me, yes, I call and say, lindo. The day of the meeting,

Carolina and Cynthia were going to meet with the alleged buyer, they send a taxi, they take the girls, they take them to a neighborhood in Cali,

Capri, I think it was called. But at the time I wasn't there, because I was in the other, in the hole that we call the cave, organizing things. Where they were going to take them. Where they were going to take them. To their final destination of captivity. And then? Then, when they tell me, we already have them in power, we we have them in power, we have them in power, I said, yeah, whatever God wants.

They come, they go to the hole I was in, the cage. How did they bring them? In a car, stored in the trunk of the car. When they got to where I was, I put on my helmet, I put on my gloves, we took them out of the car, we took them to the... They tied them up. So that was in the morning. As the day went by, I started to think,

look, what have I gotten myself into? What is this, my God?

How many were in the house?

There were... Apart from my person, there were two, three, four more people.

They were two security guards, the one who made the food and the one who did the laundry.

So, well, all of that happens, Rafa. I start, I start to get a little scared. Scared and adrenaline. And in the cage, where did they put them? We took them to a room, there we put them, because we had beds ready. We put them on the foot of the bedside table, but both together.

Two beds. Two beds. And you were there taking care of them? of the bedside table but both together

two beds

and you there taking care of them?

I stayed 24 hours a day taking care of them and they in that space what did they tell you? what did they do in those first days? not the first days

the first two days they cried a lot. They cried a lot, but for contrarestales, they were kept practically almost doped. How? We gave them, I think it's called the sonnifer that we used. Where did you mix it? In juice, coffee, soda, in any liquid. Many times in food. Did you keep them doped? 100% no, but as long as they were more than everything quiet.

And then? Then as the hours passed days went by, I... I felt guilty. I let go of the girl. I let go of the girl.

Carolina, how old was she?

21 years old.

And Cynthia?

Cynthia was older, she was about 35 or 36 years old. So I started, I let Carolina go, I told her to behave, don't run, don't scream, I'm going to let you go because you look good to me. I let her go, she was there, loose in bed, she slept...

relaxed.

You were still on a mountain pass? I was still on a mountain pass. And Cynthia, what did she say when she realized that you were letting Carolina go? Cynthia didn't, she didn't appeal to those pimples that I had.

She didn't let me look at her and I sometimes, out of malice, or out of pure bitterness, I left them alone in the room.

And why out of malice?

Because I felt very aggressive. I felt aggressive. On several occasions. One time she even tried to escape.

And?

I stopped her. And what happened? I woke up at 5.30 in the morning. I'm a very good Colombian coffee drinker. I woke up to make myself a coffee. I'm making myself a coffee when I hear a good coffee drinker, like every good Colombian. Melanto, make me a coffee. I'm making coffee when I hear a whistle.

I get there, I look out, and I see some feet hanging from the sky. I run, I pull her feet, and that woman hit me with a stick because of a man. I was carrying a Taser, I got there, I poured water on her, and and put the taser on her to calm her down. I managed to control her, I took her to the room and I killed her. Carolina looked all scared. I said, calm down, you're not going to be okay, it's your sister who's all scared.

And you, your heart loosens with Carolina.

Yes. I feel at ease with Carolina. I'm more careful with her. I give her what she needs. She would tell me, I'm out of knives, what do you need?

I would go out and get them for her. One time she said, I want to eat dessert. I said, what dessert do you like? A dessert, you see? I left the house and bought it for her.

Here, I gave it to her. You may ask me, why? Why so much attention to the lady? motivo porque tanta atencion con la señorita pues resulta que no se si fue fue por la situacion por el estado en el que nos encontramos todos fue creciendo un sentimiento

se comenzo a enamorar de ella?

¿Enamorar, enamorar?

No.

Pero sí había un sentimiento.

Creo que le llaman el síndrome de Stockholm. Eso me sucedió con... ¿Qué comenzó a pasar ahí?

Comenzó a pasar... That happened to me. What started to happen there? It started to happen... To summarize... So as not to go into details... Any amount of things. You can imagine.

And how did they do it if they were in the same room?

The house was big. I... ¿Y cómo hacían si estaban en la misma habitación? La casa era grande. Yo la separaba de ellas por 10. Ponía a Carolina arriba, dejaba a Cynthia abajo. Es más, yo ya estaba cansado de esa situación y yo estaba que explotaba. I was tired of that situation and I was exploding. I was running to deliver that little girl. And then, one day, I went up to Carolina's second floor, I left her a phone, I put it on her bed.

I had the illusion, the certainty that I was going to call her. the camera. I know that if she makes a call, I know that they track, triangulate the signal of the phone and track and know where I am or where they are. But it didn't happen. The lady didn't call, she didn't do anything. That was in the day. In the night, I start to think, to think,

what do I do, what do I do, what do I do? So I go and prepare a juice, I open two jars, I empty them jars of juice and pour it in the jug. I give it to my two colleagues, the cook, Cynthia and Julie.

I give it to them.

I lay down and start looking at Caroline and I think to myself, let them sleep, let them sleep, let them sleep fast. At the end of an hour, like 12. 1 or 2 in the morning, I went downstairs. I started with my feet wet. I was already asleep. The same thing, I was asleep.

I woke up, I was asleep. I went upstairs, I took Carolina by the hand and I was going to take her out of the house. She asked me, what are you going to do? I said, you se va hoy.

Usted se va.

¿Y usted? Le digo, yo me entrego.

No.

Y mi hermana le digo, relájese que yo la entrego a usted ahí. Su hermana queda acá, vienen por ella. La peladita se me suelta la mano y se devuelve para la casa. and she goes back home. Because she can't go out anymore, not even to the attic. She can open the main door. She goes back. No, no, my sister, I'm closing now. What I'm doing is not worth it.

Eh.

She went up to the room again

and I said these words to her.

I said,

if everything goes wrong,

I surrender.

I submit to justice. That's what I said to her. Then she says to me, read what's on the phone. I read the message, I look at it,

and I put the phone away.

What did she say?

She said a short phrase. She said, Whatever happens, you will always be in my mind and in my heart. That's what the message said. And she didn't want to hear it.

No. If she had gone, for me it would have been... I would have avoided this. Being deprived of freedom for so many years. Or I would have been dead.

And from there, what continues to happen? or if he was dead. And what happened next?

At the end of February, I received a call. I answered. I said, hey, bro, it's Julano from Tal. I need to talk to you about something delicate. It had been like three weeks. Three weeks.

I said, I need to talk to you, it's delicate, but who are you talking to? Culano, how are you? I say, where do we meet? He says, we meet at the south highway 44. Here in Cali. Here in Cali. I put down the phone and I was thinking, it's calling, they're taking me out, they're going to f**k me or what? I said, but I'm going to go. I get inside, I take out the iron, I put it on my waist,

I get on the motorcycle, I go to 44th street with the highway. Before I get to the indicated place, I stop and look, I looked and there was nothing strange, I analyzed and nothing happened. I approached the team, I asked what happened, what was the turn? My partner, you know that these guys took me out of the turn, they threw me to one side,

I asked the full bullet, I'm going to sing the you because I like you What are you going to tell me? They are going to release a female I don't know which one of the two They are going to release one, but they are going to leave you with another With the one they are going to leave you, they are going to throw you the gaula and they are going to release her and in the release, they are going to kill you

I said, what the f**k is this?

Well,

I got home and I was already pissed, angry, and all that. I was looking, I was more aware of what was happening. The day of the woman came, March 8th. Indeed, things started to happen that the subject had told me. They arrive in a car.

They say, we have to separate the two of us. We take one and you stay with the other. We take Julano and Julana and you stay with Julano and Sultana. And Sultana, I go, ready, do it. I started. Who did they take?

Carolina. Carolina.? To Carolina.

To Carolina.

They took them to Carolina. Well, I started to tie up the ends. If this man told me, the NACA, uff, when was the operation, when did they send me? Precisely, a Saturday, I think it was that,

March 21, 2009. de la operativa cuando manaba preciso un sábado creo que fue su 21 marzo del 2009 me dice el que quedó conmigo ahí me dice escucho sabe que? necesito ir al médico estoy maluco estoy enfermo pero el estaba a mirarles hermano pues llame a su papá y dígale que mande otro. Papá era el jefe de él? El jefe de él llame a papá y mande otro. Porque había que como varios jefes o que? Si habían dos and I sent another one. Your dad was the boss? Yes, the boss.

I called my dad and sent another one. Because there were several bosses? Yes, there were two bosses. On my side, I obeyed my boss and he obeyed his boss. So I told him,

I called my dad and told him that it was so the old man wouldn't notice. If you call your dad, call mine and tell him, I don't want the to notice, because if you call your dad, he'll call mine and I don't want him to notice. Because he's ready. Go ahead, go.

But what he didn't tell me is that I already knew the house, I already had holes to steal everything. When he came in, I went out and looked through a little hole. I saw that he was taking papers, grenades, and other things. He was taking everything. He put on a jacket, a hat. After he left the room, I went in and stood on the stairs. I put on a cigarette.

I smoked a cigarette. when he comes out, I say, I'm not going to take long. He says, ok, don't take long. I look at the back, I see the front door, I see him coming out, I light the cigarette, I put on my helmet,

I go into the room where Cynthia was, I open the door, and Cynthia looks at me and says, What's going on? What's going on? What happened? Nothing's going on, relax, you're going to leave. I turned up the volume on the recorder. I went up to the second floor and I said to Julie,

Julie, let's talk about the fish, let's talk about the umbrella, let's go, let's go. She didn't stop me, she fell asleep. I left. Who was she? paraula, quedo dormida, yo salgo. ¿Quién era ella? Ella era la que colaboraba con el aseo, de confianza a mí. ¿Y entonces? Entonces yo salgo, por decir, la casa de

donde estaban ellas, el hueco, a la media cuadra, a la cuadrita, en toda la esquina, hay una tienda, yo me paro en la tienda, salgo una noche y me paro en la tienda, pido I go to the store, I ask for a pony malt and a cheese finger. They take the pony malt and the cheese finger, so I take the cheese finger, I bite it and it gives me a pony malt sorbet. When I was going to get the pony malt sorbet, vroom, vroom, vroom, motorcycles, cars, the gaula, preciso a la casa. De eso ahí me abrí, me fui.

Pues me moví de ahí de donde fue el secuestro, me fui para otro lado, llegué, dañé los teléfonos, me quedé incomunicado porque ya por obvias razones yo no podía usar esos teléfonos. Los partí. me fui prácticamente caminando hasta mi pueblo, hasta la Victoria, llego allá, me dice mi esposa, llegué tipo 9 de la noche, me dice mi esposa, ¿qué pasa usted está ahora por acá? ¿qué pasó? No, ya me he quedado al trabajo, descanso 15 días,

ya se entregó lo que tenía que entregar, descanso 15 días, ah bueno papi, 15 days. She gave me what she had and I rested for 15 days. What did you tell her? I told her that I had to take care of some works of art. Works of art. I went to bed the next day, I woke up early, I go and I make myself a coffee, I turn on the TV to watch the news, when it's the last hour, rescue, Cynthia Zuluaga, tatatatatata, she looks and she rescata cintia su luga de ella mira y ya conoció la que ya viola y saca amor I smoked a cigarette and I thought, oh my God, you've read the news, what's going on now? Come on, let it be what God wants. I told her what she's done. I said, why did you do that?

Why are you telling me lies? She said, my daughter is silver. Or you don't live tasty. I don't keep what you need. Yes, but not that way. How much were you going to get? I was going to get 300,000 pesos. 300,000 from the time?

300,000 from that time.

600,000 from now, 700,000?

More or less. 180,000 dollars? More or less, that's what I was going to get. A month passed, maybe, April 29th. Well, I was watching the news

when I was released to Carolina Zuluaga was released. That gave me a relief. I rested, I lost a weight that I had on me. I didn't know where I had it. When I watch the news, I rest.

I go out in the village with my wife and daughter, she's a month old, she's about 16 or 17 months old. I'm with her in the park when I see a truck. I say, what truck? I get there, I turn around and I pass by the truck. I look at it and I say, this truck is from Hulano.

I look at it and bam, four or five guys and a woman.

I go out and I go with my wife to my mom's bed again. I look at them, bam, four or five guys and a woman. I left, I went with my wife to my mom's house again.

I said, what is this truck doing here? I said, five guys and that woman, that's not from here. I told my nephew to be careful with that truck. Look, uncle, that truck is still going around, it's still going around. On May 4 or 5, 2009, I had an argument with my partner. I left the house.

I argued with her, I left the house, I went to a block. I'm in a block there talking to a man who has a fruit orchard. I'm talking to him, when I saw a motorcycle passing by. I saw a motorcycle, not from the town. There was a man and a woman. I kept thinking, that man is the one from the truck. I turned around, I was going to pass by.

There was a man in the middle of the block. There. I turned around. You had already marked me. I had already marked me. When I turned around, there was a motorcycle in front of me, two guys. The driver, when I saw the two guys, they were wearing helmets.

I was going to put my hand on my waist, softly, I hadn't taken off my top yet.

So I say, what do I do now?

I don't take my eyes off the grillman. I take a foot, I do this, and I look at the grillman, and the driver, the one driving the motorcycle, is asking, what direction is this, we need this direction. So the grillman keeps looking at me. He looks like this, where he has the helmet, He's asking, what direction is this? We need this direction. The grillman is looking at me.

He looks like this, where he has the helmet. And he looks at me like this, between the eyes. When he looks at me, he's going to kill me. He pulls out.

Bam!

He makes the first two shots. When I see him pull out, I stop. When he makes the first shot, he hits where I was. The second, bam, one hit me here. But I didn't feel it. I went in. Instead of running to the house, I went in.

You know that in the houses of the towns, there are always crops in the sun. The man had a crop of, I think it was pepper, and he had just watered it. So I ran in, hid, turned around and I was left on a wall like this. The guy comes in, he slips and falls.

When he falls, I take a brick and hit him in the back. He drops the gun, so I take it. He runs out, gets on the motorcycle, but he says, suelta la pistola, entonces yo la cojo y él sale corriendo, se monta la moto pero no me mató porque, cosas de medidas, porque la pistola le encascaron. Yo la desencascaron, ya se volaron. Y ahí con la herida que se fue para el hospital? Sí, con la herida me fui para el hospital.

Ya en el hospital me curan, yo me voy para otro lado, yo empiezo a hacer llamadas, They cured me at the hospital, I went to another place. I started making calls, and I have a friend who works in a certain entity. I called him, hey old man, this and that happened to me. He said, that's not going to happen to you. What did you do? I said, why? He had a red circular.

I said, what does it mean? lo que hiciste yo porque tenia esta circular roja

y dijo que significa lo capturan porque lo captura la idea era irme del país bien sea Venezuela bien sea Ecuador ya tenía todo listo por ahora a la hora hora y media vuelve y recibo una llamada el amigo mío que trabaja en una entidad me dice ve I got a call an hour, hour and a half later. I got a call. My friend who works for an organization he said, hey, who is Julana Etal?

I said, my wife, why? She also has a capture warrant. I said, but ma'am, who gives her a capture warrant? She had nothing to do with that. Now we're talking, now we're talking. I had already to capture her? She had nothing to do with it.

Now we're talking, now we're talking. I had already talked to the family that was going to hand me over. And I started to think, hey, this woman gave the order to capture her. I looked at my daughter, I looked at my mom, at my sister. I went to bed. At 5 in the morning I woke up.

I made myself a coffee, I had to sleep. At 5 in the morning I woke up, I made myself a coffee, I smoked a cigarette, my wife came, my mom came, I served her coffee, I gave it to her. She said, Daddy, you have to organize the suitcases so that today they leave.

To Venezuela.

To Venezuela, my mom said. Daddy, how long are you going to be gone? I looked at her, she smiled and I kissed my mom on the cheek. I said, mom, I think I'm going for many years. I think I'm going for many. Oh, daddy, well, but it's going to be okay. Yes, it's going to be okay. I had already thought, I'm not going. Ay papi, pero va a estar bien. Si va a estar bien.

Yo ya había pensado. No me voy.

No huyo. No huyo porque si huyo, estaba mis hijas, mi esposa. ¿Qué iba a hacer? Decidí entregarme. Decidí entregarme a la justicia. Ya me traen para me here to Cali.

I started to realize everything. And here we are. And you've been here... I've been here for approximately 17 years. And what do you get out of all this? Out of all this, what do I get? Experiences.

Good things, bad things. And I know that no matter how many years of sentence one pays, one does not free all the damage you did. All the suffering that was done to Carolina's family, to Cynthia's family, to my family too. My family also suffered a lot. I destroyed, practically, I destroyed my family. Not long ago I lost my mother. Not long ago, I lost my mother.

She died in May.

This year. And she couldn't be there.

I couldn't be with her. I couldn't say goodbye. And she told you to send her. My mom told me, the last few days I talked to her,

she said,

son, I hope you learn. The last days I spoke to her, she said, son, I hope you learn. I said, mom, I learned everything. I learned everything. And that was the last time I spoke to her, it was May 8th.

The only thing, the last thing that has helped me is that I learned to be tolerant. I learned good things. I want to apologize to the family of Cynthia, Carolina Carolina and the family that I have left, which is my sister, my two sisters, and the sentimental companion with whom I am now. Let's be patient. Everything, everything, everything, everything is a process. And everything happens because God allows it.

If we're here, if I go to jail, it's because of him. Because he gave me a second chance. And believe me, my friend, that second chance is not going to be wasted. I'm going to try to be a better person.

For good. I'm going to try to be a better person. For the better.

The day I get out of here, from this prison or any other prison, Oscar Viejo will be there. I'll be renewed. How old is your daughter now? My daughter Ana Maria is 18 years old.

Does she come to visit you? It's been about 10 or 11 years since I last saw her. That's why I haven't seen my daughter. I hope to see her soon. She's already reached the age of maturity. She can come visit me.

Oscar, thank you. Thank you, Rafa. Thank you for sharing your testimony. Many times, one of the things that interests me the most is that through people like you, other people can also reflect and learn and realize that none of this is worth it.

Yes, none of this, because when bad things don't happen, it's the moment, the money. And we don't look, we don't realize what we leave behind, what we lose. That is the meaning of going to jail.

Learning. Learning.

Thank you brother, thank you Rafa.