Ernesto Báez

Who is Ernesto Báez?

Iván Roberto Duque Gaviria aka Ernesto Báez is a Colombian paramilitary leader former member of the demobilized United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Duque-Gaviria graduated as a lawyer from the Universidad de Caldas.

Duque Gaviria began his career as a member of the Colombian Liberal Party, he was democratically elected as Mayor of the municipality of La Merced and later worked for the Empresas Públicas de Manizales. In 1982 founded the Asociación Campesina de Ganaderos y Agricultores del Magdalena Medio, ACDEGAM in Puerto Boyaca presumably as a facade for the creation of paramilitary groups for the troubled region. Duque Gaviria became an adviser to this organization and was later arrested in connection to paramilitary organizations accused by the Attorney General of Colombia. He was arrested and imprisoned at La Modelo Maximum Security Prison under assassination and conformation of illegal paramilitary groups charges.