Photo: JOHANNES EISELE / AFP / Getty Images
The Latin American politician and activist from southern Colorado, Vicente Martínez Ortega, remained in his position as Pueblo councilman by avoiding going after the bars after pleading guilty to having vandalized last year 2021, the only statue of Christopher Columbus in the state, a symbol of the history of America that several groups have long sought a way to remove.
Of 80 years old, the representative of District 4 in the Municipal Council of Pueblo, received a sentence of 10 months of probation and 100 hours of community service, plus a fine of 5,000 Dollars.
The opinion is the result of an incident that occurred on 29 of June of last year in which, according to the authorities, the councilman would have destroyed it for “political reasons”
, several plates of the statue of Columbus.
Furthermore, the politician had pleaded guilty to the charges against him on January 7, but the judge in charge of the case rejected that statement because the now councilor requested that he be given a guarantee not to go to jail, to which the authority argued that it is up to him, and not Martínez, to establish the sentence.
In this sense, a couple of days ago, the Latino politician presented a new plea of guilty, without any type of demands in what corresponds to the sentence. At that time the judge accepted the plea, which allowed the councilman to reduce his charges to “destruction of property municipal”, a violation of the law, but not a crime.
The Pueblo City Statutes state that no person guilty of a offense can hold elective public office.
Thanks to the reduction of charges, in addition to avoiding a possible imprisonment of several years , Martínez managed to maintain his position as councilman, which he assumed this January 10 of 2022.
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