Colombia's National Prosecutor's Office captured two congressional candidates during the March 8, 2026, election day. Freddy Camilo Gómez Castro was detained in Bogotá for alleged ties to a smuggling network, while Víctor Hugo Moreno Bandeira was arrested in Leticia for attempting to bribe authorities with cash.
On March 8, 2026, amid legislative elections for Colombia's Congress, the National Prosecutor's Office carried out arrests of two candidates. Freddy Camilo Gómez Castro, a Senate hopeful from the Partido de La U, was detained under judicial order after voting in Bogotá's Engativá locality. According to the Prosecutor's Office, Gómez Castro was linked to a corruption network facilitating smuggling activities tied to Diego Marín Buitrago, alias “El Viejo”. Evidence shows he contacted national and regional officials, the Fiscal and Customs Police (Polfa), and the Judiciary to, in exchange for payments, allow the entry, transit, and sale of illegal goods.
In the same case, former National Police members José Luis Olaya Caicedo and Édgar Humberto Bacca Sánchez were also arrested. Olaya Caicedo allegedly used his human resources experience to identify willing Polfa officers and collected money in Cartagena for bribes. Bacca Sánchez enabled smuggling containers through the ports of Barranquilla and Cartagena. A prosecutor from the Specialized Directorate against Corruption will charge them with bribery by offering and aggravated criminal conspiracy.
In Leticia, Amazonas, Víctor Hugo Moreno Bandeira, a House of Representatives candidate from the Centro Democrático, was caught in the act trying to bribe officials to avoid the seizure of $15 million in cash he was carrying. A prosecutor from the Amazonas Section will charge him with bribery by offering. The Centro Democrático called on authorities to “carry out the pertinent investigations to clarify what happened to the country immediately”.
The preliminary tally for the day reported five arrests for vote-buying corruption in Bolívar and Meta, and 15 detentions by judicial order, including three polling jurors. Additionally, the Prosecutor's Office recorded the seizure of $2.318 million in 26 procedures from the past week, under investigation to determine their origin.
