Former Police Director Rincón Requests Investigation into General Salamanca over Murder of His Son
Retired General William Rincón requested that the Public Prosecutor's Office examine links between police corruption and the homicide of his son Juan Felipe. Caracol Radio revealed details of his statement.
Rincón links contracts and police leadership to his son's murder
Nearly three years after the murder of Juan Felipe Rincón, recorded on 24 November 2024, the investigation is taking a new direction. According to infobae.com, retired General William Rincón, former director of the National Police, submitted a formal request to the General Prosecutor's Office to determine whether an alleged corruption scheme within the institution is related to the homicide and torture of his son.
The request was revealed by Caracol Radio and forms part of a statement made to Prosecutor's Office 46 Sectional of the Public Administration Management Unit, in the context of a parallel investigation into contracting processes in the National Police between 2023 and 2024.
A contractor at the centre of the hypothesis
Rincón identified before the prosecuting authority a man named Andrés Vanegas as a central figure in the alleged scheme. According to the general, Vanegas would have participated in over 50% of police contracting through companies and temporary unions, a situation that the General Comptroller's Office had already warned about through an audit. The body noted that the Police would have limited the plurality of bidders through direct contracts with a single supplier.
"An alleged contractual monopoly on the part of Mr Andrés Vanegas, who was also, at the time, a professional officer of the Reserve of the National Police. This person, in turn, apparently maintains a friendship with Mr William Salamanca, who was also a professional officer of the Reserve of the National Police and is furthermore the son of General William René Salamanca, who was director general of the Police during the years 2023, 2024 and the beginning of 2025, which is why he was the authorising officer and supervisor of spending for the Police," Rincón stated to the Prosecutor's Office.
The network of links that the general requested be examined
The hypothesis presented by Rincón connects several people. The general noted that retired Colonel Fabiola Bejarano—whom he described as a friend of General Nicolás Zapata, police subdirector during the Salamanca administration—invited him months before the crime to lunch at Cafam Floresta. There, according to his account, she asked him to prioritise payment of a legal action for 100 million pesos that the Police owed her.
"It apparently was a trap since, according to what she said, she knew perfectly well General Nicolás Zapata, to the point of having an intimate friendship with him, therefore, it would be inherent to turn to me, unless she wanted to induce me to commit some error so that she could then use it against me," the general stated, according to the file cited by Caracol Radio.
Rincón also linked Bejarano to Arnoldo Duarte, her husband, and the latter to Edgar Sotelo Duarte, father of Katherine Sotelo Torres and Andrés Sotelo Torres, two people already detained in relation to the case of Juan Felipe Rincón.
A nine-hour medical procedure without explanation
Among the episodes prior to the homicide that Rincón requested be re-evaluated was a meeting convened by then director William René Salamanca on 15 August 2024 at 5:30 a.m. at the General Directorate, presented as a matter of "utmost importance". At that meeting, Salamanca spoke to him about a person whom he described as a pastor or guru, who would have had visions about the health of several generals and would have focused his attention on Rincón.
Three days later, the general was summoned for an MRI examination at the Rimab company. What occurred there constitutes one of the most sensitive points of his statement.
"After attending the appointment I am attended to by two nurses, they examine me and tell me that to perform the examination they had to anaesthetise me because I had to be completely still. It started at 7 in the morning and I was unconscious for almost nine hours. When I regained consciousness I perceived that I was intubated. I observed a lieutenant and my wife at my side," Rincón recounted.
When he later requested his medical record, the general found a report that recorded a procedure of merely 20 minutes, a discrepancy he included among his questions to the Prosecutor's Office. According to the information presented in his statement, the Rimab company would be associated with Andrés Vanegas, the same contractor identified in the corruption investigation.
Request for security guarantees
Rincón left the directorate of the National Police on 9 August 2026, following the arrival of Abelardo de la Espriella to the Presidency. Before his departure he had reported the alleged contractual irregularities to oversight bodies. In his statement to the Prosecutor's Office, the general maintained that several episodes he experienced before and after the murder of his son could respond to the same criminal context, and he demanded guarantees for his personal security.
The General Prosecutor's Office has not made a public statement on the request. The investigation into the homicide of Juan Felipe Rincón continues its course.
Source: Google News CO — Crime