The Government of Ecuador confirmed this Friday that the policeman Germán Cáceres, the main suspect in the murder of his wife last September, was arrested in Colombia after joint work between the prosecutors of the two countries.
Cáceres, who had fled the country, had a “red diffusion” order from Interpol for his location and capture, as he was the main person involved in the murder of María Belén Bernal, a young lawyer who disappeared on September 11 when she went to visit her husband at the police station where he worked as an instructor.
The news, broadcast by a television channel, was also confirmed by the President of the Republic himself, Guillermo Lasso, on his Twitter account.
“Germán Cáceres, wanted for the femicide of María Belén Bernal, has been located and captured. My appreciation for the joint work between the Ecuadorian Police, the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office and the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office,” Lasso wrote.
The president assured that the fugitive policeman, “once in the country, will receive the full weight of the law,” while the Ecuavisa channel indicated that Cáceres was located and captured a few hours ago in the Colombian town of Palomino.
Precisely, the general commander of the Police, Fausto Salinas, reported this Friday that there was no trace of Cáceres, although the search devices were still activated.
Bernal’s case has outraged and shocked Ecuadorian society and has become one of the most prominent acts of violence against women as it occurred inside a police facility, which has led to the victim’s mother, Elizabeth Otavalo, to describe it, even, as a “state crime”.
The events occurred on September 11, when Bernal went to the Higher Police School, north of Quito, to visit Cáceres, who was an instructor at that training center.
Bernal’s body was found ten days later on a hill near the Police School with signs of strangulation, according to the forensic report.