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Diomedes! Diomedes!
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
I carry the music with me. I was born with it.
What happens is a cultural and moral commitment
to my country through folklore.
We've doubled the size of the crowd.
People are more aware
of the vallenato style that's sung with the soul, made with the soul.
These are my fans!
God bless all of you!
A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
My fans are crazy like me, but they're good people.
The musical phenomenon of Diomedes Díaz is as complex
as the life of the singer.
He's currently one of the best-selling Colombian musical artists.
Twenty years ago, no one was willing to bet on his future.
Everything that happened to him he made into a song.
He wrote about his experiences.
You see? That's just vallenato.
Diomedes was a genius, but you had to watch him 24/7.
I spent around 30 years doing drugs with Diomedes Díaz.
Why? Because Diomedes was a party man.
How much is Diomedes' mouth worth?
Including a kiss…
…a very large sum of money.
Money is definitely good. It's fun.
It's the complement to women.
Money, of course.
You're a man who sings beautifully, so you must have a good heart.
He was beautiful.
A beautiful thing. Well, I've always been very affectionate
and greatly respected women.
I've never played with them, quite the opposite.
I managed his fan club.
I'm the godfather of about 51 of them.
They say, "Jaimito, you're the godfather."
"Jaimito, you're the…"
Yes, sir!
Diomedes, has your conscience ever tormented you
for hurting a fan?
Is there a story you remember?
Of course.
There's nothing more dangerous than a resentful fan.
That's clear as day.
Doris Adriana…
She was a friend of ours, of the whole group.
I would see her at the studios.
She approached me trying to get closer to Diomedes.
Another fan.
One of many.
To all my fans!
Who are mine and no one can take away.
Diomedes said, "Doris Adriana is going to get me into trouble."
"But don't worry about it."
I said, "Buddy, be careful with that."
The bad moments in your life, you try to erase them.
SHE WENT ON A DATE WITH DIOMEDES AND DIDN'T COME BACK
Despite the strange circumstances
surrounding the death of a friend of Diomedes,
which involved the singer,
tonight, he's launching his latest record in Valledupar, titled Mi Biografía.
From my heart, to all of Colombia,
to all my fans.
I wrote these songs
with a message of love and peace for everyone.
We kept performing as usual.
But they linked him.
For the past five months, Diomedes Díaz has been a fugitive
of the law.
He disappeared in August, and no one knows his whereabouts.
Do you still stand behind your accusation?
At this time, we're still holding Mr. Diomedes Díaz responsible.
How do you explain your sister's overdose?
Simple. She was murdered.
They wanted to put Dad in jail.
They wanted to put him in a cell.
My father was protecting himself running away.
It was a critical time.
Diomedes was all alone.
He cried with me.
I would say, "Don't worry, Dad."
"This is a test from God
so you can get out of this and be the amazing person
you've always been."
"We believe in you and your innocence, Dad."
THE KIDS ARE WITH YOU, DIOMEDES
You live it! You feel it! Diomedes is innocent!
I WILL DEFEND THE CHIEF TO DEATH
It's the only thing being talked about in the music world.
We, the fans, welcomed him to show him our support
so he knew he wasn't alone,
even though people in the capital asked how we could support a murderer.
It's because he was our singer, our idol.
Idol is a title reserved for God.
WE BELIEVE IN YOUR INNOCENCE
During the first interview he gave
after the death of Doris Adriana Niño,
Diomedes assured everyone that Adriana left his bedroom alive.
I have no idea what happens outside my bedroom door.
Had I known anything, I wouldn't have let it happen. Okay?
If that had been the case with the girl, may God rest her soul,
Had she had a seizure right in front of me,
I would've helped her right away.
I would've taken her to the hospital myself.
That's me. That's Diomedes Díaz.
They had plotted it so well…
that it could've been the perfect crime.
They wanted to end Diomedes. That was clear.
VALLENATO LEGEND PARK
We did worry.
By that time, he wasn't the same Diomedes.
SINGER
The person I first met
he was a humble man.
Totally sincere.
A man who lived for himself and his family.
Without a direction…
Diomedes, he was a farmer…
and God graced him.
I remember when he was five or six,
a lot of accordion players came here.
COMPOSER
I believe it is in the environment.
In every town, every city, every nation,
there are different traditions.
This place is bursting with melodies.
You write a verse and the kids follow.
That's where it grew, his musical wealth,
since he was a kid.
I met Diomedes at my house.
He arrived, sat down, and started singing.
HISTORIAN
My dad was inside and immediately came out
and he said, "Son, who are your parents?"
And he said so-and-so.
"No way!" And he hugged him.
"That's why you sing so beautifully. Of course!"
He inherited it from his grandfather,
because they were los juglares.
We have, according to the different geographic areas of the country,
different types of music.
HOST OF EL SHOW DE LAS ESTRELLAS
In northern Colombia,
we have the queen, cumbia.
Vallenato is folklore music
that deserves the utmost respect due to its tradition.
It was already here when Christopher Columbus arrived.
It's related to cumbia. They have the same roots.
The accordion arrived, and it was added to what they knew,
and it definitely enriched it.
I call them dynasties
because they've prevailed since the 19th century.
One is the Maestres.
I could talk non-stop for half an hour
about the musicians, composers, accordionists,
decimeros of that dynasty of masters, to which Diomedes belonged.
So Diomedes was not what he was by accident.
SINGER AND ACCORDION PLAYER
When there was a party and they saw Diomedes coming,
they would disrupt the party.
"Here comes the screamer. The rascal is coming."
He had verses.
For example…
He was an amazing verse writer.
He was supposed to stay here singing for us, being an unknown.
He came to Valledupar with holes in his shoes.
He was a real farmer.
Valledupar is considered the capital of vallenato music.
Once again in Valledupar.
RADIO ANNOUNCER
Radio Guatapurí was the main radio station.
I think it still is.
This kid showed up.
"Oh, you're Diomedes?"
"Yeah, I just recorded this album."
So they gave him a bicycle.
"Use this to deliver the mail."
He had never ridden a bike.
But he went out with the bike and parked it.
I worked on foot.
I was all sweaty and stuff,
but anything's possible.
I earned the love of everyone in town,
all those guys who worked on the radio,
they're my friends to this day.
But I just did it to get my album played.
On Radio Guatapurí, a new voice.
Rafael Orozco singing the hit "Cariñito de Mi Vida,"
written by Diomedes Díaz.
I called him and said, "Man, Diomedes, I'm Emilio Oviedo."
ACCORDION PLAYER
"I'm collecting songs because I'm going to record with Rafael Orozco."
"Wow, thank you so much for your help."
"I really wanna be known."
"I recorded some tracks, but they haven't taken off."
"I have beautiful songs. I'll give you whatever you want."
And I said, "Okay."
"It's called 'Cariñito de Mi Vida.'"
"Great. Let's check it out."
GREATEST HITS RAFAEL OROZCO, EMILIO OVIEDO
When I said, "Diomedes, bro, we're gonna record a song for you,"
he was dying of joy.
"That's great!"
And Emilio called Rafa.
"Rafa, come here."
"Let's say hello to Diomedes here."
"Tell him, 'Diomedes Díaz, el Cacique de La Junta.'"
And that nickname stuck.
El Cacique de La Junta,
Diomedes Díaz.
Soon after that, he'd already had the duet with El Debe López
and they were heading for CBS.
I went to that recording, at CBS,
which is now Sony Music.
He recorded three songs and took off.
It was crazy.
I wrote that song for my wife, Patricia.
"La Ventana Marroncita."
When they shot at me from that window.
-Why? -Because I loved her,
but nobody trusted Diomedes Díaz.
That's when Diomedes' career took off.
He joined Colacho Mendoza
and they found success.
TWO GREATS DIOMEDES DÍAZ AND COLACHO MENDOZA
Diomedes begins to spread vallenato throughout the country.
THE PROFESSIONALS
FOR MY FANS …
YOUR SERENADE
And his record company begins to promote the songs he's launching.
WITH A LOT OF STYLE
DIOMEDES DÍAZ - COLACHO MENDOZA SINGING
With Colacho, it was a very traditional group.
CASHIER
So Diomedes said, "I wanna be more commercial."
I like that song by El Cocha.
"New Blood."
The gestures, the greetings…
Everything Diomedes did was commercial.
Others sang better.
Rafael Orozco had a better voice.
He was very competitive,
but on stage, they didn't look like enemies.
MANAGER, 1994-1996
They could say, "I love you, I love you," but there's always that musical jealousy.
Diomedes connected more to the people.
More rural.
OFFICIAL PRESENTER
Toothless, he had a droopy eye, no education, no culture.
I mean, everything was lined up for him to fail.
Others were more technical, better dressed.
They had a different look than Diomedes.
That was their advantage over us.
But working,
practicing,
putting in the time,
he became a very unique singer.
He was the one most connected to the fans.
He expressed what he felt,
and that's what people liked.
When he went on stage, he transformed.
He was unlike anyone else.
He made three CDs with Cocha,
but then it was time for a change.
"Who should we get?"
I said, "Man, Juancho Rois just left Jorge Oñate. Let's get him."
FRIEND AND MANAGER
THE STORES TERREMOTO AND CANDELA SUPPORT JUANCHO ROIS AT THE XXIV VALLENATO FEST
Juancho Rois.
Amazing.
Juancho Rois is an artist.
Sometimes he'll be over there with his accordion and I'll be over here.
And for example, I want to play "La Chinita,"
this is what I do.
ACCORDION PLAYER, 1985-1994
We use sign language.
If he wants to play "La Palomita Volantona," he'll do this…
Play "Guapa," it's…
"La Paloma Volantona."
Or, for example, "El Besito."
If we're talkin' about…
for example, "Lluvia de Verano,"
he goes like…
You know?
That's when the good year started for Diomedes.
SONY MUSIC GENERAL MANAGER, 1979-1984
He became an idol
and people already felt like Diomedes was the best.
Wherever he went, people went crazy.
Diomedes!
Diomedes went on stage and the audience went crazy.
Kids, adults, women, men,
everyone was crazy about Diomedes.
Everyone, their mouths open.
That's how it was.
A smashing success.
Songs that were hits on the radio
and that sold records.
And logically, Sony took advantage of that
to turn him into the most important artist in Colombian music.
WORLD CUP
Debuting a Diomedes Díaz song during the World Cup
That commercial with Diomedes Díaz rang throughout all of Colombia.
Diomedes Díaz was a bestseller his whole life.
Diomedes would release a CD and it would sell like hotcakes.
Everyone knew that May 26th
was Diomedes' birthday, when he would release an album.
ACCORDION PLAYER, 1995-1998
Shoemakers, street sellers, they would save up,
waiting for the Diomedes' CD to drop so they could buy it.
When his album hit the street, there were tapes available,
obviously poor quality.
Piracy was big business and a mafia started up.
The music of El Cacique de La Junta.
The father of all singers.
For vallenato fans, Diomedes was a god.
Thank you!
Thank you, my people!
Diomedes was very original.
Very much himself.
He had everything to become a superstar.
With pleasure!
PRESIDENT OF COLOMBIA, 1994-1998
But what Diomedes did was make a qualitative leap
and take vallenato to every corner
and connect directly with the people,
which was something I felt in my campaign closing statement.
Because I'm going to repeat
the feat of the Colombian national team.
And we're going to score five goals against poverty in Colombia.
On Colombia's Caribbean coast,
those who can't sing vallenato have no political future.
When Diomedes arrived, I said, "Diomedes, you're late."
"These people deserve better."
And he told me, "Look, Samper."
"If you don't get on that stage,
I'm going to take away the 60,000 votes that are waiting or you out there."
"And that are waiting for me there."
"So you better get up there if you don't want to lose those people."
A round of applause!
The joy of vallenato!
The enthusiasm of the Barranquilleros!
He would've been more successful.
Much more successful.
But he was totally uninterested.
Money meant nothing to him.
FRIEND
He would come by with a bunch of money and give it away.
That's why Diomedes was a poor rich guy.
Because he gave everything away.
To everyone.
At the time, he was spending about a million pesos a day.
SON
That's really when my dad's era of economic wealth began in earnest.
Quadruple-platinum.
Thanks to the sales of your album Título de Amor.
The first Colombian singer to make one million dollars
doing a concert was Diomedes Díaz.
Bags of money, man.
Suitcases full of money at the house.
Does it still hurt?
It's not glued.
All or nothing. Like that.
Diomedes, where did you get the idea to put a diamond in your tooth?
Well, I had this idea a long time ago.
Practically since I was a kid.
But it isn't to show off.
I want my voice to shine
and my songs to shine with my diamond there.
And also if I have all this money sitting in the bank,
what use is it to me?
I'm better off having it in my mouth.
That's how I earned it.
And so my fans can see it daily.
I feel happy and also my toothache is gone away.
When he got really big…
Diomedes was the apple of the drug traffickers' eyes.
FRIEND
He could've had half of Colombia if he wanted,
as vulgar as that is,
because the mobsters offered him millions and millions,
millions right in front of me,
because they were proud of him.
And why did they look for him?
Because he was popular.
Because Diomedes attracted them.
He was the perfect party trick.
And had he said no,
he would have lived a long time.
We went to play for Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela,
at his second wedding, in Cali.
And he goes on stage and sings
and the bride requests "El Santo Cachón."
And he shouted, "No, I don't sing that kind of music."
"My music is different."
We left at 7:30 a.m.
It's an unpleasant down side,
the drug trafficking meddling with the music industry.
And the vallenato was not immune to this.
A bonanza came to the Guajira.
The marimba players who were called the "Marimber."
We stopped playing there because Diomedes liked it a lot.
Diomedes, and not just Diomedes,
everyone in that generation, grew up right at that time.
We were beginning an era, the era of narco corruption,
narco terrorism,
with people like Pablo Escobar.
My money has no ties to drug trafficking.
In Antioquia, everyone knows of my investments
in the fields of industry, livestock, and construction.
GENERAL EDITOR OF EL ESPECTADOR
The drug cartels were there for a long time
to rule as they saw fit.
SAMPER PRESIDENT, KNOCK OUT UNEMPLOYMENT
The Cali cartel made a multi-million contribution
to Ernesto Samper's campaign.
They had already permeated absolutely everything.
The economy, soccer, politics… all legal businesses.
Drug trafficking was present and somehow it had also generated a culture,
which was the "traqueta" culture.
We were trustworthy and it paid us well.
One day we were at a show.
Before playing, Diomedes arrives.
"Bro, I have some cousins
who have some powder that helps out when you're tired."
"You don't get drunk or anything like that."
"Come on."
I said, "Well, sure, then."
All the pain I had was gone.
And Diomedes was over there,
"Bro, look how well it works!"
From there on, we started using cocaine.
Mundo Costeño. We'll be right back.
For the first time in history, in the United States,
I'm with one of our great musicians from the northern Colombian coast.
He came through the big doors to the United States.
He did so in New York, like the gods.
We toured the United States for a month and a half.
The piggy bank is empty!
-Will you give me two dollars? -Fifty cents.
No, man, the blind man was humiliated today.
The only winner is me!
It was a tour full of happiness, partying,
drugs, lots of things.
In many places.
NEW YORK JULY 1995
First and foremost, Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.
Later, on a Wednesday, we had to play in Maracaibo
for some drug traffickers.
We traveled and Diomedes partied,
and Diomedes couldn't make it.
Wait a second.
The pilot was wanted by the DEA
and had had an expired pilot's license.
And there, that was an omen of what was coming.
About halfway there, the plane lurched.
And I thought, "What is going to happen to us?"
When they asked for a runway at El Tigre, they got no answer.
The left wing hit an electrical tower.
The plane fell nose first.
It broke in half.
Juancho died in the medical center.
The irony couldn't be crueler.
One month and five days before his tragic death,
Juancho Rois lived the most transcendent moment of his life.
Marrying Jenny Dereix
in the San Pablo Apóstol de Montería Church.
In the Montería club,
a friend who was on top of the world,
Diomedes Díaz.
That affected him quite a bit. Diomedes soon tried to drown his sorrows.
Why? I can't believe it. It's not fair.
Of all the things I have to tell him,
I think the most important is for him to take care of himself
and for him to know who he really is.
Dad became so popular he no longer had time for himself.
My dad didn't rest.
He worked Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
and if Monday was a holiday, book it.
Then came a time when Dad could no longer be in the house.
He would tell me, "Jaimito, wake me up! Get me up!"
But to wake him up, you had to start three hours before,
because he wouldn't get up.
He was always out late partying.
His vice had taken over.
-Cocaine. -Basuco and cocaine.
Everyone!
In the eyes of the world, and everyone knew it,
Diomedes was not the most disciplined man.
Usually, when Diomedes Díaz released a record,
there were people in the back,
friends who were with him drinking rum and partying with him, and more.
And to the jealous boyfriends, when we look at your girl,
don't get angry. It's harmless affection.
People started to, uh…
They broke everything. Showcases, bottles…
Total chaos.
Hey!
Behave!
And let me warn you guys who are fighting.
A party without a fight isn't a party.
But don't get too carried away.
And remember that Christ is 1997 years old.
Let me tell you, basuco,
if you try it and you like it,
it pulls you pretty much down to ruin.
PERSONAL ASSISTANT, 1979-1997
The basuco was popular.
Everyone wanted to try it to see what it felt like.
But Diomedes' weakness was women.
One day, he told me,
"Bro, let's count how many children I have."
"Ah-ha, and the one you had there you counted that one too, right?"
"Write it down there."
"Did you remember any other ones?"
So, we counted and counted up to 35 children.
But I think there were like 70.
Wherever he went,
he had lots of women.
I've never seen anyone seek them out so much.
But it isn't his fault.
If you go to a hotel at 5:00 a.m. to sleep and ten women are waiting there…
Well, he doesn't bat for the other team so he did it.
When a girlfriend would call, he'd say, "Don't tell your mom
or we'll both be in trouble."
He said that women had to be taken care of a lot.
That we were here for women.
His reasoning was,
"They're the ones who wash, they're the ones who cook."
"So how can we not love them?"
He made songs for them.
He loved them so much that he even gave them children.
Until one day, Diomedes arrived and I introduced him to a little girl.
And the first time I saw him. Wow.
WIDOW
Very tall. He was dressed in black with a scarf.
And he was walking in a military style, with his chest puffed out,
and he looked divine.
He asked me what I wanted
that I hadn't received for my 15th birthday.
I told him
a necklace.
About an hour later, he arrived with two lovebirds.
"Do you know what this means?"
I said, "No."
"That means we're never going to be apart
and you're going to be my wife."
A relationship that quickly turned sour.
Women everywhere, but…
when he was in Bogotá, he was with me.
Then Doris met Diomedes.
Doris Adriana, she was never a friend of mine.
There were many fans.
He saw her two or three times.
Sure I knew who she was, logically.
BODYGUARD
Just another fan, with whom he had a sentimental bond.
I met her at some parties.
My relationship with her was not an official relationship.
It was just an opportunity, like so many others.
They're not just looking for me. I'm also a scoundrel.
DORIS A. NIÑO'S BROTHER
Well, when she meets Diomedes,
I believe she was about 24 years old.
I understand that they met at a concert.
Diomedes saw her and was bedazzled by her.
He sent a bodyguard to get her phone number.
I can't be sure what he wanted,
but on occasion he went too far with her.
I mean, I never saw anything first hand,
but my sister told me a few times that he was a disgusting person.
So much so that she asked me to change the house phone number.
And thus end the harassment by Diomedes,
who would call at all hours of the night, even at dawn.
Until, unfortunately, on May 14th,
at ten o'clock in the evening,
when the phone rang.
MAY 14, 1997
That day I was in the hotel relaxing.
Iván Zuleta asked me, "Castillo, you're not going to the party?"
I said, "What party? Where?"
"The one at Diomedes' apartment."
And I said, "No, no one told me anything."
He was with five bodyguards.
When he came to record, they were always there.
And they started drinking.
Diomedes, Consuelo, and her friend who lived in Soacha.
After I left the house, there were several calls,
one of them from Diomedes…
saying he sent the bodyguards.
She came out looking scared.
She left the address of the place where she was going
and she left her ID in her room.
Which she never did.
As though saying,
"If something happens to me, look for me here."
It was about 9:30 or 10:00 pm
when Oswaldo went to pick her up.
I was asleep when he arrived. He told me, "Well, I brought the girl."
His shift was over.
He said, "Bye," and I said, "Wait a minute."
"Is there anything else?"
Consuelo Martínez, Diomedes,
and the other guys, the assistants were there.
BODYGUARD
The only people awake were Diomedes and Consuelo Martínez,
who were on the second floor just drinking.
She came in, like always, and we went up to Diomedes.
Knocked on the door.
"Diomedes, Diana arrived. Marta arrived…" Or whoever…
But there was no meeting, no party, nothing.
No, there was only a tape recorder.
To be honest,
I don't remember dates. I don't remember words.
I wanna forget it.
My whole world is going to crumble
because it was such a bad event.
So painful for the three families involved.
And that's what I don't want.
I'm not running away from the situation.
I'm protecting myself,
which I believe is fully within my rights.
I'm protecting my three children.
Two of whom are now women.
The next day, I was surprised to see my mother crying,
saying Doris Adriana hasn't come home.
So I went to the authorities.
In this case, to the public prosecutor's office.
And I spoke with an investigator who told me he couldn't open a case
because 72 hours had not elapsed.
We started looking for her
in the clubs, in hospitals,
we put up posters,
we talked to so-called friends,
but, unfortunately, we never got an answer.
I don't remember if it was 25 days.
What it was was despair.
And that's when I went to the Historias Secretas TV show on RCN.
STORIES
And they told me that we would do a live show,
introducing myself, and in that moment, I was afraid.
Good morning.
On behalf of the journalistic team and the Historias investigative unit…
Wilson Núñez hosts a program, and so I made a clarification.
We are not here looking for money or trying to harm anyone.
All we want is to find my sister.
Wilson Núñez said he wanted to speak to the other side,
but that it was impossible,
that is Diomedes didn't want to show his face, not then.
After that Historias Secretas episode aired
on June 10, 1997
about the disappearance of Doris Adriana Niño,
we started to receive all kinds of calls.
JOURNALIST
A woman called and she was the one who told us
that a girl who looked like Doris had been buried.
I think the woman was involved somehow
because she even faxed us the first page of the newspaper story
where it read, "Miss Sandra is dead."
That was the headline.
I headed out early with a photographer.
It was a rural area, and we started asking around.
JOURNALIST
We were lucky enough to find some people,
the farmers who saw what happened.
We were about two blocks away…
WITNESS
…when we suddenly saw a car.
Very suspicious.
We saw some guy.
He threw something.
He lit a cigarette,
smoked a little, got in the car, and drove off.
We thought it was just garbage or something.
How could we have known what it was?
I went to check it out with a guy who works with me.
WITNESS
We went, we looked,
and to our surprise,
we found a dead lady.
Her underwear was like this.
The guy who dumped her, he was brazen, to put it nicely.
The CTI came and dug her up.
About a half an hour later, some ladies arrived, shouting,
"Hey! They killed her! They killed Sandra!"
Surprise, surprise. A sex worker.
And that was it for us. They'd killed some girl.
So there we were.
This was serious.
I made an appointment with the prosecutor in the afternoon.
And that very day, we got the photograph
of the removal of the corpse that was in the newspaper.
I could see the file.
I told them, "Look, the people you have here,
they already closed the case," because they had indeed already closed it,
"but it's this person."
And I took out Doris' ID card.
As soon as I took out the card,
a thousand copies were made and they said,
"You just cracked open the whole investigation."
I got a call.
I was already feeling sick,
because I was already imagining the worst.
And very crudely they told us, "Look. Your sister's dead."
"She's buried in Tunja."
"They say she was a prostitute there."
The story at the time was that a prostitute,
who no one knew,
who provided her services in Tunja,
was discarded and thrown away on the mountain.
Some farmers noticed and they went and buried her.
They got a coffin for her,
made a grave, and there they wrote:
Sandra.
MAY 15/97
As time went by, I began to connect the dots
and I realized what was really going on.
SEX WORKER ALLEGED WITNESS
Did you ever talk to her?
Uh, no, just saying hello.
I recognized her.
They called her Sandra, but I didn't know her real name.
Well, those ladies had to have been paid. They wouldn't talk otherwise.
-Yes, there was money there. -Of course, that was a setup.
Everyone in Tunja had been bought.
LEGAL MEDICINE
And so I went to the morgue to identify my sister.
How did I do that?
Through the photographs
taken at the time of the removal of her corpse,
through the clothes that she wore, and her birthmark,
which, undoubtedly, could not be ignored.
Then I went to the cemetery.
MAY 15/97
By that time, she had been buried for four weeks.
And seeing her in a coffin decomposing was terrible.
Uh, so far, I haven't told you anything because I don't know anything.
Only that they found her dead here in Tunja.
Some people buried her.
Which totally distorts the image of my sister.
And threatens my family's good name.
I have fought to defend everything against my sister at this time,
because she is unable to defend herself because she is dead.
One day after Diomedes learned of the discovery of the body
through his lawyers,
he gave us the following interview in a hotel in Bogotá,
where he was preparing for the launch of his album, Mi Biografía.
First of all, my condolences
to the family of the deceased and may God rest her soul.
I was a good friend of Adriana. I won't deny that.
It is true that I sent for her that day
because I wanted to talk to her.
I wanted to spend some time with her, like we always did.
I wanna make it clear
that I am a good and noble person, that I am incapable of hurting anyone.
This situation hurts deeply.
I'm not used to this.
I repeat, my condolences to the family.
If there's any way I can help, I will.
So he kept his commitments,
because, logically, we were not under arrest.
What is your position on what happened in Tunja?
Well, I already said what I have to say about that show Historias Secretas, right?
If you want to know something, go and ask them.
I don't know anything. I'm not involved.
-Cut. -Yeah. Uh-huh.
I didn't handle the case personally, but I was the lead in the investigation.
NATIONAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
I'm not ducking responsibility for that because I assigned the prosecutors.
NATIONAL OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Putting Diomedes Díaz on trial was not a popular move.
NATIONAL OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
In the judicial process, it finally begins
when the case is made before the prosecutor's office,
who advances the investigation and…
orders his detainment…
in the airport.
OCTOBER 3, 1997
We checked in. Everything was normal.
We were about to board the plane.
"Excuse me, Mr. Diomedes Díaz."
"Yeah. That's me."
"Sir, you're under arrest."
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE ARRESTS DIOMEDES DÍAZ
FRONTAL PHOTO
-Did you come to see Diomedes? -We came because he was arrested.
-What now? -We'll have to go to the other side.
So what now?
When someone is famous, well, people make things up to get money.
I believe that might be the case here.
But for us, Diomedes is an idol.
And we'll party everywhere, listening to Diomedes.
Diomedes is innocent. He's innocent.
He just gave her some coke, but, well, that's all he's guilty of.
The first Forensic Medicine report mentions an overdose of cocaine.
Why would a person, I repeat, who does not consume any type of drugs
appear with traces of substances in her body?
Well, that indicates that these substances were not consumed voluntarily.
Good evening.
Diomedes Díaz has been taken to the National Directorate of the CTI
in the Teusaquillo neighborhood of Bogotá where he will spend the night.
Many of his fans have come here to express their support for the singer.
Arrest warrant with five people.
LAWYER
Three bodyguards, one a friend of his, and an assistant.
Diomedes' questioning is very interesting.
It didn't last long.
And he ended up recounting what happened that night.
That he had sexual relations with Doris Adriana.
That they had a great time,
and afterwards, that he then asked one of his bodyguards
to escort her to a cab.
He said that was all he knew.
And if it wasn't him, then why did Doris Adriana end up dead?
And the bodyguards began to contradict each other.
You're under oath.
The first version of the story that was given
was that she had left for her house.
But since I was under pressure,
I told the truth about what happened.
Well, It was about 12:00, 12:30 at night when I went to pick her up.
I told her I was going to Bucaramanga at dawn.
So she asked if I could take her to Tunja since she was going there.
I left at about 4:00 a.m.,
took the car out of the parking lot, and we got going.
She told me that she had been fighting with Consuelo Martínez,
because Consuelo was pregnant with Diomedes' child.
She was drinking and doing cocaine.
Later, I saw in the rearview mirror,
that she was already asleep.
So I just let her rest,
and when we got to Tunja,
I tried to wake her up.
I start calling, "Doris! Doris!"
She didn't answer me
and I thought it was easier to just find a trail,
put her under a tree, and leave her there.
As I was dragging her,
her pants got caught on rocks or brush and rolled down accidentally.
Judge, this is the truth.
No one killed her, no one raped her, no one murdered her.
She killed herself using cocaine in my vehicle.
They thought it was going to be easy, but the prosecution didn't believe them.
The automobile is one of the main pieces of evidence
in the process implicating Álvarez Rueda and accusing him of criminal cover-up.
Diomedes, meanwhile, denied everything.
But that started to crumble.
"I DIDN'T KILL DORIS ADRIANA"
I believe that he was shielded in his bubble as an artist.
He didn't think justice could touch him.
THE CHIEF TO BE JUDGED!
I began this fight alone.
Later on, Jesús Edgar Niño and all of his siblings
promised to collaborate with me.
NIÑO & NIÑO ASSOCIATES
They arrived like guardian angels.
I took on the case for Doris Adriana's family
for one simple reason.
I did not believe in…
THE NIÑO FAMILY LAWYER
…let's say in the arguments of the prosecutor's office.
LAWYER
They were just so focused on the cocaine.
But her brother told me, "That's a lie. My sister didn't do cocaine."
Well, he knew that she was neither a drug addict
nor a drunk nor anything like that,
but that she was a humble, simple woman.
NIÑO FAMILY SUBSTITUTE LAWYER
A beautiful, hard-working woman with high aspirations.
CERTIFIED LAWYER
Doris Adriana was a good person.
She had big dreams.
She had started an IT company…
undoubtedly to try to help her family.
Of all the siblings,
she was the one we spoiled.
I even taught her to read.
I taught her the multiplication tables.
We had a meeting with them.
We decided that, before fully accepting the case,
we would do our own investigation.
And I concluded that indeed
it was apparent that Diomedes was involved in her death.
A violent death.
And that being the case, well, justice had to be served.
LAWYERS
And that's what happened.
Chief!
Diomedes!
Chief!
This is the moment when the vallenato singer-songwriter Diomedes Díaz,
is taken from the CTI headquarters of the prosecutor's office
in the Teusaquillo area in Bogotá,
to be transferred to the Funza Penitentiary.
NATIONAL PENITENTIARY SCHOOL
The prosecution, based on speculation
and completely distancing itself from the evidence,
which was malfeasance,
have ordered the arrest of Mr. Diomedes Díaz
and others for aggravated homicide.
Which is when you mean to kill someone.
Aggravated homicide is, in general terms, murder.
And he is being held here, at the INPEC prison in Funza
Based on a hypothesis
in which Doris Adriana Niño was forced to consume cocaine
until she overdosed.
DIOMEDES IN PRISON
Around these events, the media, in their eagerness to seek the truth,
the culprit, or the victim, have woven a series of hypotheses
that try to clarify the true situation of Diomedes Díaz.
Unverified hypotheses, according to the lawyers.
Lawyers came to take away everything
that Dad had worked for his whole life.
My dad said, "I have money. I can pay for it."
"Don't worry. I have to prove to everyone that I am innocent. I didn't kill anyone."
PALOQUEMAO JUDICIAL COMPLEX
JUDICIAL SERVICES CENTER
- 33 - RD CRIMINAL CIRCUIT COURT
The trial against Diomedes is not transparent.
On the contrary, it is murky and how so.
And finally, enter Evelio Daza,
the buffoon of the circus.
I was Diomedes Díaz's lawyer.
I wanted to do it, because from the outset…
DIOMEDES DÍAZ'S LAWYER
…I was convinced, as everyone here is convinced,
that Diomedes Díaz was incapable
of committing the acts attributed to him.
The bigger the bull, the better the bullfight.
For me, it is much better to face a top-notch lawyer.
I'm not afraid of that.
What's next in the Diomedes trial?
Look, the defense, and I repeat,
is remarkably calm, serene.
It is incontrovertible that Doris Adriana died from a cocaine overdose.
TEST RESULTS COCAINE: POSITIVE
OVERDOSE
INDICATES CLEARLY
There was a contradiction.
How could they speak of aggravated homicide
when the same body that investigated Diomedes,
the prosecutor's office,
assume that Diomedes never intended to cause her death?
NATIONAL PENITENTIARY SCHOOL
All right, Maestro.
So how have you spent your days here?
Often I've been sad.
Seeing that a person like me,
who only thinks of giving joy, love, and peace
to the Colombian people…
Well…
I thank justice for solving my problem…
and for realizing that if they look at me,
if they analyze Diomedes Díaz well,
They will see they won't be wrong.
And I will never make them look bad.
This is a test for real men, and it is now being solved.
BOGOTÁ AND CUNDINAMARCA COURTS
Evelio appealed,
and then the court jewels come and the whole process is thrown away.
They revoke the aggravated homicide,
but felt he was culpable.
CRIMINAL CODE
Manslaughter is when the active agent of the crime,
having been able to foresee the harmful effects of his act,
did not prevent them.
It's for when a person is driving.
The traffic light changes.
He did not mean to cause harm.
And immediately he was released.
Guilt requires imprisonment.
And that's why they did it.
Diomedes! Friend!
Friend, here!
MARCH 28, 1998
In the car, Carolina! In the car!
Get in the car. Come on!
Someday I will be like you, Diomedes!
Not a singer, but rich and famous.
Diomedes!
God bless you.
Music is a gift from God.
I love you so much.
Diomedes!
But they talk about the great reception given to him in Valledupar,
which I maintain will never be repeated for anyone.
THANKS, VIRGIN OF CARMEN, FOR FREEING THE CHIEF
THANKS FOR NOT LOSING FAITH THE VIRGIN HAS SHOWN HER LOVE
COLOMBIA IS WITH YOU, DIOMEDES
COME BACK TO LIFE WE'RE ALL WAITING
How do you feel?
Reborn.
All the authorities,
civil and military,
welcoming a murderer.
That was the last straw,
but we're in Colombia, brother.
PROBATION FOR DIOMEDES DÍAZ
APRIL 8, 1998
All this drama,
it damaged my dad's nervous system.
Dad knew much later
that it was because of emotional disorders.
EMERGENCY CLINIC INTAKE, OFFICES
So Diomedes remains in stable clinical condition.
And as long as this trend continues,
the possibility of admitting him to intensive care decreases.
CLINICAL LABORATORY
Guillain-Barré syndrome is a disease
that affects the neuro-muscular system, the nerve endings.
Of course, as you can see,
just to move an arm or a leg,
another person has to help.
And Forensic Medicine performed the exam
and they considered it a serious disease.
So they didn't jail him.
The singer offered a mass today in front of his residence
to thank the Virgin,
to ask that health not be an obstacle in his artistic life
as the criminal process continues
in the death of Doris Adriana Niño.
Will there be a record soon?
No, we're going to wait for these problems to settle down
before starting the career of Diomedes Díaz back up.
Diomedes claimed that he couldn't move anything.
That he was just a hunk of meat.
I had to take him to the bathroom with a sheet.
Take him in, help him, all those things.
I'm starting to feel parts of my body.
The last part is my hands.
Everything else is fine. Thank God.
That's when Volver a Vivir with Iván Zuleta was made.
When he got Guillain-Barré, Diomedes' measure was suspended.
He was no longer under house arrest.
SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE
That's when we appealed to the deputy prosecutors in court.
Meanwhile, Doris Adriana Niño's lawyer
requested that the criminal pathology tests be repeated
because a special medical report
contradicted the diagnosis of the Forensic Medicine Institute.
Let's say there were some important forensic clues.
11:00 a.m., time of removal of the corpse.
8:00 a.m.
From the moment the sample is taken until the moment the analysis is done,
it will not be a representative sample.
And that the drug is a contributing factor,
not a determining factor.
We put them between a rock and a hard place
and they had to accept that.
Really, the cause of death was not an overdose of cocaine
as they led everyone to believe.
Everything was distorted.
With the scientific panel,
it was concluded
that indeed Doris Adriana Niño fought for her life until her last breath.
Presence of petechial hemorrhages.
They did an analysis of each injury,
which has a time, a location,
and speaks for itself.
And that all those injuries were premortem.
Before killing her, they subjected her to torture,
beat her, raped her, drugged her.
And here are pressure injuries,
where an inverted V is clearly visible.
And then at the end, it produces the final cause of death,
which is asphyxiation by manual strangulation.
MECHANICAL ASPHYXIATION
The prosecution then argued
that Doris Adriana was going to scream,
and that to silence her,
they had to put their hand on her mouth and nose.
And things got out of control.
Meaning Doris Adriana was killed.
It was not an accident.
Upon learning of the judge's decision,
the attorney delegate to the Supreme Court of Justice,
Guillermo Mendoza Diago,
asked the judge last Friday to immediately revoke the measure.
And of course the accusation has to change.
It has to be more serious, of course.
And he is the first to speak of an unintentional homicide.
And he is the one who accuses Diomedes.
The prosecution proposes to accuse him.
It does not expect anything in particular. It only hopes that justice is done.
Understand that.
Unintentional homicide occurs
when, for example, I'm going to punch someone,
I hit him, but it turns out that the guy falls back and breaks his neck.
So then what? My intent was not for him to break his neck.
But with such bad luck,
the original action goes further than intended
and produces a result that is beyond what was meant.
I ask what was the personal injury that was caused to Doris Adriana?
We've always maintained from the beginning
that everything has been done
to hide the truth from Colombia.
And now we have these results
that show part of the truth, but it's not the full truth.
Some is still missing.
NATIONAL OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Why are you requesting another medical re-evaluation of Diomedes Díaz?
If Forensic Medicine were to say
that he no longer has the serious illness that was originally diagnosed,
he must be put in prison again to serve preventative detention.
There are people of bad faith who start making things up.
And I'm getting better.
I have improved a lot because I could hardly open my eyes.
At least I can speak now,
but I'm still not well enough to be in jail.
And all this? How are they going to send doctors,
because it's a circus.
Given these differences between the exams in Bogotá and Valledupar,
the prosecution requested a new exam in Bogotá.
There was a doctor from here who goes
and verifies that he does not have Guillain-Barré.
And that is when they again dictate an insurance measure.
AUGUST 10, 2000
They told me, "Juaco, they're going to get Diomedes Díaz."
So I reach Diomedes,
I tell him, "Man, they suspended your measure
and they are going to take you to Bogotá."
FRIEND AND MANAGER
Guard the door!
He's an outlaw.
"What do you suggest, then?" "Fly the coop."
I put him in my truck, with an extra-large cab,
and brought him here to Virgen del Carmen, his ranch.
I had to use a colonel on duty who was in Valledupar
He loved Diomedes.
Colonel Chitiva.
After 20 days, they got in from the La Guajira side.
They also informed me
and that's when I brought him here to my little ranch.
And I had him hidden here for three years.
And life was good there.
He would go and record.
People would take him and bring him back.
Things were good.
All kinds of friends would come here and party.
There was dancing, songs.
It was party after party.
Women and all kinds of things there.
Alcohol and dope.
When we recorded the Ilusiones CD,
we camouflaged Diomedes and took him in to Valledupar
to sing in the studios.
And then take him back at night.
The escape was just a big party.
Dad definitely had more company out there than when he was in Funza.
Really, he had been given I think a provisional release
because he couldn't move.
He seems to be moving a lot.
The CTI and the police have not been able to locate the poor invalid.
ATTORNEY GENERAL,1997-2001
Paramilitary groups operating in the region protected him.
In fact, the CTI was unable to capture him at that time.
At that time, the boss was Jorge 40. Yes.
Paramilitary.
ANTICOMMUNIST GET OUT, GUERRILLA
And they put some guys to watch me, but they protected him.
It was healthy here, because nobody was messing with him.
Some even said what specific ranch he was on,
what region he was hiding in.
But he was so skilled, his whole network of informants was so fast
that they knew it was very difficult to reach him.
What can we do from here?
"IF THEY CHANGE THE JUDGE, DIOMEDES WILL TURN HIMSELF IN"
Diomedes is somewhere exercising the right to defense,
which the constitution grants to all Colombians
when they are faced with the unjust and arbitrary abuse,
as has been the case of judge 46 with Diomedes Díaz.
What's more, Diomedes was going to come in today.
So why didn't he come in?
Because of the judge's abuse by not granting him provisional liberty.
So that's why he understands and I understand.
"We're going to defend as an absentee prisoner."
How do you explain Diomedes Díaz not agreeing
with this public hearing?
Well, I've always said that sin cowers, right?
Not only should Diomedes Díaz be tried,
so should the other participants in the murder.
Do you still believe in El Cacique de La Junta's innocence?
Yes. Innocent to the end.
According to what they says, there was a fight.
And Diomedes told her
I was pregnant.
Because, supposedly, she was pregnant.
So, they got into a fight.
Yes, a fight.
One of aggression and defense.
Held…
by you.
Holding Doris Adriana Niño…
the night of May 14th.
I know that many things went in my favor
and I came out okay.
Prosecutor Mendoza Diago says…
There was a confrontation between Doris Adriana Niño
and Luz Consuelo Martínez,
as evidenced by the findings
on the nails of the former of the tissue of the latter.
Please. If there's anything false about all this, it's that.
Science is in charge of denying her.
Mrs. Martínez is lying.
She was in the apartment.
And there's a three-parts-in-a-million chance
that the tissue isn't hers.
Who else's would it be?
Madonna's?
To be clear,
she was even more seriously indicted than Diomedes Díaz.
She participated.
I never read the conviction.
I was sentenced to one year.
Going to jail…
your world ends.
Diomedes Díaz's bodyguards were also sentenced.
Each to seven years in prison
for the crime of concealment and false testimony.
BODYGUARD
But in Colombian prisons, there are benefits.
If you study, you get three months per year.
And that's what I did.
I was in jail for four years.
So far, the motive for the crime has been uncertain.
The truth is that Doris Adriana was murdered.
Diomedes Díaz murders her
by placing his hand on her mouth and nose,
using his strength to exert so much pressure on her
that her bite is embedded in the mucous lining of her lower lip.
So he killed her.
Everything indicates that she was invited to have a sexual relationship.
That she was invited to an orgy.
So when she got there,
she didn't wanna go ahead with it.
If I wanted to participate,
I'd take off my pants and get to it.
But not wanting to do so, she started to scream.
And when she started screaming,
they should've just covered her mouth.
But by covering her mouth and nose at the same time,
he has to assume that she's going to die.
And Diomedes Díaz has a misogynist inside.
He believes that he has the authority to mistreat, to rape, to oppress.
No one had the right to rape, beat, or mistreat her,
because we are talking about a crime.
But he has to condition himself to the facts.
The case here is unintentional homicide
or wrongful death.
But now the charge is death by cocaine overdose.
Everything that seeks to modify the charges
has to be rejected.
That is my position.
I do not see the irregularity anywhere.
Not even close.
Honorable Judge…
please restore the hope of those condemned…
to 100 years of solitude…
and utter a judgment
commensurate with a man's condition of innocence.
And the right,
not only for Diomedes,
but for all Colombian justice,
to have in its hands a second chance on Earth.
Thank you very much.
Good afternoon.
The singer Diomedes Díaz was sentenced today
to twelve and a half years in prison.
The 46th criminal court judge
found him guilty of the death of Doris Adriana Niño,
which occurred on May 15, 1997.
It has already been proven
that Doris Adriana did not die of a cocaine overdose,
but by asphyxiation.
The judge sentenced him to 12 years at first
for unintentional homicide.
I would be satisfied, I repeat, if my sister were still alive.
The vallenato singer Diomedes Díaz
will not turn himself in for now.
Meanwhile, his friends assure us that, despite the conviction,
Diomedes is calm.
He says that he is innocent.
Just last night, he told me that he is innocent
and that one day, he will be proven right.
It was sad,
not only Joaco Guillén, but for the country,
Colombia,
and Valledupar, vallenato music.
Diomedes is also missed by the 21 children he has had
with nine different companions.
The oldest is 26,
the same age as Betsy Liliana,
the woman who accompanies him in hiding.
And the two youngest are nine months old.
I saw that Diomedes was deteriorating every day,
that people were forgetting about him.
And they were still looking for him.
And I told him, "Brother, you've been hiding here for 20 years."
"You won't fix your problems like this."
"You have to turn yourself in. That was our plan."
"Valledupar, that was very important."
That's the way we planned it.
So he did.
DIOMEDES GOES BACK TO JAIL
DIOMEDES DÍAZ GOES BACK TO PRISON
INPEC JUDICIAL DISTRICT JAIL, VALLEDUPAR
So they started planning something.
"I'll turn myself in here in Valledupar before they send me to Bogotá."
"Here in Valledupar, I'm the king."
"Here in Valledupar, I can be in jail and not really jailed."
So how did they do that?
He was a music teacher, he was a singer, he worked.
That was handled by Dr. Evelio
before the justices of the prosecution.
And they got permission to record here while in prison.
We turned it into a studio.
Sony brought all the equipment from Bogotá.
He had a studio and El Cocha worked there.
He was fine in jail.
They made sancocho.
They had parties day and night.
You can't even imagine what was going on in there
until they took him out of there.
In jail, he had a girlfriend.
Not even jail could stop him. He got a girlfriend. A guerrilla.
Here the paramilitaries took care of us. And there, he was falling in love.
I DIDN'T KILL DORIS ADRIANA
They changed the sentence to six and a half years.
And he only ended up spending 36 months in jail.
It was a joke.
Three years.
It should've been 25 years.
That isn't justice.
SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE INSTITUTIONAL COURT
Above mere men are institutions.
Colombia is a state of law,
in the midst of all the difficulties we have.
It is a country with institution.
And we have an institution that is the Judiciary Branch
and the summit of the Judicial Power is the Supreme Court of Justice.
And if the Supreme Court, when reviewing that decision,
made the decision it did,
well, I think that is what we should accept.
But of course,
when things of this nature happen,
well, on both sides,
but more on the side of the victims,
and with good reason, there is resentment.
There is resentment
even if Diomedes Díaz had been sentenced to life imprisonment,
the family would never have been happy,
because a life cannot be restored by anything.
DIOMEDES DÍAZ WAS RELEASED
I thank God and the Virgin.
I thank the Colombian justice system
and all my fans!
And when he gets out of jail,
so many people rally behind him,
motorcycles, bicycles, cars,
people on foot running, it was crazy.
WITH MY PEOPLE AGAIN DIOMEDES DÍAZ
FAN
We followed him. With all his craziness, his faults, we followed him.
Diomedes and Franco come with everything with this production for their followers.
We are here at launch.
He left prison with the same desire to sing,
the same inspiration to write, still that strong person.
He did his first concert here in Bogotá in El Campín,
which was his first concert and I was his opening act.
Ladies and gentlemen, a very good evening!
The moment you've all been waiting for has arrived.
The great one is back!
He was always very motivated.
He was looking forward to going back on stage.
When we saw the tickets go on sale, it was crazy.
His fans wanted to hug him, kiss him.
It was amazing.
Truly.
His people welcomed him
and gave him back that strength that is given to an artist.
And the applause and the shouts for him, Diomedes triumphed at that show.
The weapon that I have used to fight this battle
has been my conscience.
And I realized that where I was going was maybe not the best option.
And that things have changed.
And from now on, rest assured, I won't make you look bad.
My dad was never a murderer.
He's never touched a fly, my dad.
To the contrary. He brought things to life.
The weight of the justice system fell on him.
Diomedes, he could never get rid of that stain.
The stain of homicide,
that ended him artistically.
He started to decline.
Diomedes Díaz was done.
He never got his voice back.
I was at a festival in Maicao.
And when he started singing,
I put my hands on my head.
"My God. Diomedes, you should retire."
He lost his self-esteem.
Yes!
Diomedes was very ill.
Diomedes, sometimes he would be awake for up to three days.
Four days.
And he would go out and perform.
He was already finished.
He had to stop his drug use.
You could barely call it singing.
Look, the last concerts with his tongue sticking out.
Physically finished.
And I left the set.
A round of applause!
This difficult situation that Diomedes lived through is no secret to anyone.
In fact, I had to live through it too,
getting run off stage.
Diomedes was delving into that world
surrounded by irresponsibility,
by nothing positive.
That is false! What does that get me?
There are 15, 8 thousand, 20 thousand, 16 people.
I am part of the opposition, but how is it done?
The fall was very abrupt. He simply let himself go.
He no longer wrote those songs
that touched everyone's soul
because his mind had already washed away, handling it.
My dad relapsed into many things.
He didn't want to go sing.
He didn't even want to bathe.
He didn't want anything.
I feel that the accident he had in the truck
was the primary cause of his death.
It was a year earlier.
Yes, it was dawn.
But he convinced the driver to give him the keys.
But a cow crossed the road
and he didn't know how to maneuver the car.
Diomedes suffered a fracture in his left rib,
which is affecting a lung,
and blows to the head, but he doesn't have any skull fractures.
Look, I feel good.
It was something that had to happen.
But I promise you that,
with Christ in hand,
I will never commit such recklessness again.
-Thank you. -Thank you, Diomedes.
Everything that happened to him was because of his loneliness.
He wasn't in good company.
Diomedes later separated from his second wife.
At that moment, he kind of wanted to be in peace.
We decided to be together and live together
to try to have a better future.
He was not in bad company.
I'm the one who gave life to Diomedes.
And yet, the people who managed him exploited him.
Is this guy sick?
Put him in the hospital.
No, he's going to sing and we're gonna force him to keep going
until he bursts.
Here again is the vallenato Grammy!
With great pleasure!
Whenever Diomedes finished a concert,
he would hug me,
and his circle there,
and he would say to me, "Help me. Help me, Jorge."
I am happy to be with you on The Star Show, Jorge.
You know I love and admire you very much. All Colombians do.
The Chief of La Junta.
He knew what was going to happen.
He foretold his death.
"I'm going to die," he told me.
And I said, "Oh, Dad. How can you tell me that, man?"
"With all these parties?"
BARRANQUILLA, LAST CONCERT DECEMBER, 2013
The Chief, Diomedes Díaz!
Diomedes!
We played on the 20th in Barranquilla in Trucupey.
It was the last dance.
The worst I ever saw from Diomedes. He didn't finish a single song.
In prophetic words, he said,
"This is the worst concert I have ever sung,
but I promise you will never see me like this again."
And he passed away on December 22.
Due to a cardiorespiratory arrest.
DECEMBER 22, 2013
It is 4:30 pm.
Today, December 22, 2013.
This great figure of our folklore,
El Cacique, Diomedes Díaz,
has passed away.
THE VALLEY CRIES FOR DIOMEDES
We were celebrating the CD that came out.
I took the CD,
and I hugged it.
Diomedes died.
No, this was all full once.
YOU RESURRECTED FOR ETERNITY
It looked like a wake.
My daughter had to take all of it out of here
so that I would stop crying.
He is number one
and still is, even after death.
Diomedes died on December 22
and was buried on December 25.
It was amazing. An incredible showing from the people.
REUNITED! DIOMEDES DÍAZ AND JUANCHO ROIS
When we got to the cemetery,
they didn't want to let us in.
A chorus of about 10,000 people told us…
"Don't bury him! He's alive! Don't bury him!"
The police, even the ESMAD, had to be there
because the public, his fans, wanted to come in.
They wanted to see him go down and there was no room for people in the cemetery.
DIOMEDES DÍAZ MAESTRE MAY 26, 1957 - DEC 22, 2013
Do you think about death?
Every day.
Daily.
If I knew that death, for example…
If I were more dead than alive, I would die today.
But I don't know, man.
I don't want to die.
I try to stay in my body.
One thing is the artist
and another is what he has done as a person.
I always say that he is an icon of folklore
and that no one can take that away from him.
But we must be realistic.
Today, the truth of what happened that night in that apartment
is still unknown.
I cannot believe that everything they say happened.
Diomedes was incapable of killing anyone.
Why did they pursue him?
Because he had the fame.
Diomedes made such a strong bond with his people.
He gave himself over to his fans,
and they always supported Diomedes,
because they believed him innocent.
Diomedes, even dead, is still number one.
The most played in Colombia.
Diomedes is a school.
He was the greatest thing our vallenato folklore ever had.
Diomedes' main legacy is his talent,
his songs.
"The wound that I always carry in my soul does not heal."
They are poems for the people.
Diomedes was a product of Colombian society,
bordering on the ethical and the unethical.
And he a reflects us in some way.
And he sums us up in his songs.
No one else is like Diomedes.
Another will never be born.
If they are born, they won't grow up.
And if they do, they'll go insane.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
My pleasure.
This documentary is based on a journalistic investigation
about the life and work of Diomedes Díaz Maestre.
The process included interviews, reviewing press, bibliography,
and judicial documents.
The documentary was made under the protection
of constitutional and legal norms on freedom of expression,
and therefore has no intention of harming anyone,
but rather to present the product of such investigation.
The procedural truth lies in the case files
and judicial decisions.
The opinions or comments of the interviewees
do not represent the vision of the production.
We thank all those who participated with their testimony,
including Jorge Oñate, who was interviewed days before his death.