Colombian lawyer exiled in France publishes third series of series “Matarife”

Colombian lawyer Daniel Mendoza, a refugee in France after receiving death threats, is preparing the third season of the documentary series “Matarife”, which denounces the “narco-paramilitary system” in his country.

“In Colombia, we have a paramilitary and drug-trafficking government,” Mendoza told AFP near the city of Toulouse (south).

“Matarife” has been viewed 40 million times on social networks.

“I did the series as a weapon of subversion (…) that intends to mortally wound that system, without generating blood,” he indicates.

A lawyer, criminologist and journalist, Mendoza had to flee his country shortly after the broadcast, in May 2020, of the first season of the series.

Through the use of press articles, interviews, photos, videos and judicial dossiers, the series traces the links between the political-economic elite, paramilitaries and drug traffickers, and directly accuses former President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010).

“The Medellín cartel would never have been what it was if Álvaro Uribe, then director of Civil Aviation (…) had not given the licenses to Pablo Escobar, to the Ochoa clan (…) so that the planes come up full of coke and come down full of dollars,” he says.

Mendoza traces the connections with red thread on a vast mural of images and writings, in his apartment.

“The purpose of the series is to use the information that already existed (…) to package that weapon in an audiovisual lead shield (…) so that it reaches the soul of the people and wakes them up (…) better than a conventional documentary would have,” he explains.

Broadcast on YouTube, with an agile format and with music, the series (ten episodes of six to eight minutes each) is designed to be viewed quickly, “between two bus stations.”

Daniel Mendoza, born on April 8, 1972 in a wealthy family, considers that “Colombia is run by sociopaths.”

A victory for the left in the next elections will not bring about his return. “Those who want to kill me will still be there,” she says.

“Suddenly in ten, twenty years I can return and walk calmly through the streets of this country that I adore,” he concludes.

fpp/ap/hj/cco/jz/an

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