Alias Pirry had 26 years of criminal life in the Organized Armed Group, GAO, Eln and was accused of terrorist operations against civilians, the Military Forces, in addition to illegal recruitment and forced displacement.
“We will not leave them a single corner to hide in. This is the only end that criminals may have: surrender to justice or being neutralized” Minister Molano said.
In the same joint and coordinated operation of the Military Forces and the National Police where alias Violeta was arrested, Felipe Alcocer Alvarino, alias Pirry, ringleader of the Darío Ramírez Castro war front and member of the National Directorate of the GAO Eln, died in military operations.
After more than a year of intelligence work by the National Police, Army troops, supported by the Colombian Air Force, reached the rural area of the Micoahumado village, in the municipality of Morales, Bolívar, where they engaged combats against the criminal structure of this individual.
According to the Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, this ringleader was the only member of the National Directorate of the GAO Eln that still remained in Colombian territory. “It is clear that here in Colombia we are fighting the GAO ELN and, on the contrary, what has been happening in recent years is that its ringleaders fled in Venezuela or Cuba, because here they know that they have Military Forces that fight them, neutralize them, arrest them or get them into judicial process”.
For his part, the Director of the National Police, General Jorge Luis Vargas, explained that, according to the information collected in the operation, there is evidence that alias Pirry in recent months was working in criminal operations and operations in cities such as Bucaramanga, Cúcuta and Barrancabermeja.
In addition, according to intelligence information in recent weeks, this ELN ringleader had planned electoral restraints operations in the South of Bolívar.
At the site, the threat of two men was in the same way neutralized, including alias Cepillo, second ringleader of the structure and alias Cesar, in charge of the personal security of this criminal.
In addition, six people were arrested in the same operation, including two women known as Violeta and Valentina. According to the authorities, alias Violeta, the girlfriend of alias Pirry is responsible for the terrorist attack that occurred in 2017 in the Andino Shopping Center.
“It is again demonstrated how cynically the ELN denied its responsibility in that terrorist attack, being on the contrary a terrorist gang which has been the main responsible for the terrorist attacks in the capital city of the country, including the Andino Center”, said Minister Molano.
He added that this major hit took place thanks to the coordinated work of the Military and Police, who have been carrying out a campaign operation against the Eln, which in the last four years has resulted in the arrest 2,247 of its members, 120 neutralization and the demobilization of more than 1,000 of its members.
Source: Defense Sector Communications Office - Ministry of National Defense
