In the course of joint operations of the military forces, in coordination with the National Police and with the support of the Attorney General's office, it was possible to neutralize in the rural area of Nóvita, department of Chocó, alias Uriel, ringleader of the ELN.
During the operation, troops seized two pistols, 5.56 rifle ammunition, 16 cell phones, computer and communications equipment, as well as documents of interest to intelligence of the Military Forces.
Andrés Felipe Vanegas Londoño, alias Uriel, with 25 years of criminal experience in the ELN, had an arrest warrant for aggravated homicide, aggravated kidnapping and rebellion and was one of the high-value targets of the authorities. For information that led to its capture or neutralization was there was a reward of up to 500 million pesos.
He had direct contact with Pablo Beltrán, a member of the Central Command of the ELN, and used social networks as a national and international media platform to spread the criminal operations and propaganda of this terrorist organization, in which he directly and constantly challenged the Colombian State with the intention of generating environments of destabilization, especially in urban centers.
Alias Uriel was one of the ringleaders of the ELN who recognized the authorship of this GAO in the attack against the Escuela de Cadetes de la Policía Nacional (National Police Cadet School General Santander) in which 22 members died, and also expressed the intention to give continuity to this type of terrorist attacks against other military or police facilities in the country. He warned that the Frente de Guerra Occidental would not give up the resources it receives of the criminal income of drug trafficking and accepted the participation of the urban networks of the ELN in the violent attacks against the CAI (Immediately Attention Center) in Bogotá at the beginning of September.
This individual was suspicious of leading the “The collectives schools” for the terrorist operation of the ELN in the cities, as well as the recruitment of young people and the formation of urban cells and clandestine networks in charge of training in the use of explosives against the Military Forces and civilians.
The neutralization of this ringleader significantly contributes to the reduction of the forced recruitment of minors in the most vulnerable communities of the department of Chocó, mainly of the indigenous inhabitants, since he was the one who led the “ELN Youth Political School” through the armed coercion of its victims. In the same way, the line of connection conducted by the Frente de Guerra Occidental and the Frente de Guerra Urbano Nacional of this GAO is broken.
