Alvarez case

Arcedio Alvarez Quintero (1950–⁠2011) was a convicted child molester and sex offender from Mariquita, Colombia. He grew up farming with his family, becoming a farmer himself as an adult.[4]

In 2009, Alvarez Quintero was prosecuted for molesting and abusing his biological daughter for years, resulting in 14 children, 6 of whom died due to malnutrition and lack of proper care. Alvarez Quintero claimed that his crimes were part of "God's plan"[5] and furthermore denied any biological relationship to the victim, but this was later disproved after confirmation of his biological relationship to the victim.[6] Alvarez Quintero became known as "the Monster of Mariquita" and "the Colombian Fritzl", after infamous Austrian murderer, rapist, and child molester, Josef Fritzl.[7]

After the death of Alvarez Quintero's wife, he began to abuse his 5-year-old daughter Nidia. The rapes are believed to have started when she was about 7 years old, and continued for roughly 26 years,[8] resulting in 14 pregnancies, the first when Nidia was just 13 years old.[8][9] Of the 14 children to come from this abuse, 6 died due to denial of medical care by Alvarez Quintero. Alvarez Quintero never allowed his daughter to leave their home unsupervised, and would often tell her that their relationship was simply "God's will".[10] As the children grew, Alvarez Quintero allegedly began to assault his young daughters and may have been grooming his sons to do the same.[7][8]

Arcedio Alvarez's victims included his daughter Alba Nidia, 35 at the time of the trial,[11] and her children by him, his grandchildren. Alba Nidia grew up poor in their small home in rural central Colombia.[12][13][9] Alvarez reportedly taught her to read and write, but neither she nor her children were allowed to attend school.[14][7] All her children were born at home,[15] and 6 of them died in childhood, when Alvarez refused to take them to the hospital.[7] Of the 8 surviving children (5 girls and 3 boys),[15] the oldest was 19 years old at the time of the trial, and the youngest was only a few months old.[9]

Arcedio Alvarez was arrested in March 2009, after Alba Nidia had managed to escape with six of her children and found herself living in extreme poverty.[14] She then revealed to a Child Welfare worker the sexual abuse she had endured for almost 30 years.[16][17] Local councilwoman Gilma Jimenez made public the extreme conditions in which Alba and her children were living with her father, and how poor their health was.[18] The investigation later revealed that many in the rural area where they lived knew of the suspicious things occurring and had not said anything about it.[19]

When the case first came to light, Alvarez repeatedly claimed that Alba Nidia was adopted. However, several lab tests proved that Alba Nidia was Alvarez's biological daughter.[6] He also claimed that he and Alba had a consensual, loving romantic relationship.[20]

During the investigation, Alvarez needed police protection when attending his court dates due to the hatred the community felt toward him. He was found guilty of crimes against his daughter and her children, and was eventually sentenced to a minimum of fifteen years in prison.[21] However Alvarez died in 2011.

• Fritzl case
• Inbreeding
• Incest
• List of child abuse cases featuring long-term detention