(ORDO NEWS) — The unfortunate Colombian has been jailed three times over the past 13 years, just because he shares the same name as a wanted drug cartel leader.
46-year-old Rene Martinez Gutierrez is a peaceful family man with no criminal record. The problem is that he shares the same name as a Peruvian drug trafficker with multiple national and international arrest warrants and has been arrested three times in the past 13 years for this reason.
The last time it happened was earlier this month when the man returned to his native country of Colombia to visit his ailing father.
He was arrested as soon as his plane touched down in Bogota and has been in prison ever since… René’s story is well known as he made headlines in Colombia every time he was arrested.
Gutiérrez first ran into trouble with the law over his name in 2010 when he went to the local police station in Bogota, Colombia to certify that he had no criminal record and open his own file.
While checking his records, the police discovered that René Martínez Gutiérrez had an international arrest warrant issued by Peru, so he was immediately detained for eight days.
In the end, the Colombian was released, but he could not just forget this situation, so he went to the Peruvian embassy, to the Supreme Court, to Interpol, but none of these organizations had a real explanation of what happened.
They all claimed that his arrest was due to an unfortunate name match.
A year after his first arrest, René Martínez Gutiérrez was again called to the Bogotá police station as a witness after his workplace was robbed.
He was only supposed to testify about what happened, but when the police checked his name in the database, they mistook him again for a wanted Peruvian drug lord.
This time, he spent two months in the notorious Colombian La Picota prison, until the Peruvian authorities finally confirmed that he was not the one they were looking for.
After this incident, Gutiérrez decided that the best way to avoid prison in the future was to emigrate to the US, so he and his family moved there in 2012.
It seemed that his problems with the law were behind him, but in early 2023, René learned that his elderly father was not feeling well, so he decided to fly home to see him, knowing full well the risk he was putting himself at risk.
Unfortunately, the 46-year-old’s worst fears came true as soon as his plane landed in Bogotá.
Interpol agents boarded the plane immediately after he stopped at the airport runway, asked for his ID and, after confirming his name, escorted him.
He was eventually transferred to the Los Martires police station, where he has been held ever since.
Unfortunately, the father of Rene Martinez Gutierrez died during the detention, so he did not even have time to say goodbye to him.
He and his family are again waiting for the Peruvian authorities to formulate an extradition request and confirm once again that he is not the man they are looking for.
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