The Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, confirmed accompanied by the Military and Police Commanders, the arrest and subsequent death of alias Fabián, assuring that it has been the heaviest blow to the ELN in this government.
“We have dealt the biggest blow to the ELN as far as the government of President Iván Duque is concerned. Yesterday, Ángel Padilla Romero, alias Fabián, the most important head of the ELN that remained in Colombia, was arrested,” the Minister said.
He in the same way he stated that other members of the National Directorate of the ELN continue to commit crimes in Venezuela and Cuba. “We have hit the ELN in the head, we have freed thousands of Colombians from suffering and pain, which this criminal structure wanted for the Department of Chocó, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca.”
The head of the ministry of Defense explained that alias Fabian was arrested alive. “At 4:00 p.m. yesterday, in the jungles of Chocó, he was given first aid and taken to a hospital in Cali. I was informed this morning that alias Fabián died in the early hours of today at 5:20 when he was receiving assistance,” he said.
He in the same way said that Fabian had been injured after Operation Samuel, carried out a few days ago by the Military Forces.
“In that blow that the criminal structure received, seven of its lieutenants and members of that narco-terrorist group were neutralized. After 10 days of searching, by land and by river, by our Military Forces he was found wounded, covered with bushes and vegetation yesterday, he was very close to the place where the operation took place last week. He was the author of many kidnappings, such as that of the former governor of Chocó Department, a was drug trafficking ringleader, and he had displaced thousands of people.
He had become one of the worst criminals who hit the Department of Chocó with the displacement of more than 4,000 people on the Coast of San Juan,” the Minister said.
Finally, the Minister assured that the ELN is one of the axes of evil that today is hit in its basic essence. “Our operation against these criminals will continue unabated, we fight the ELN, as it has been demonstrated in this operation. The terrorists who try to put Colombia against the wall, through this violence and crime, will face the same fate, they will have nowhere to hide, we will find them wherever they are,” he said.
Source: Defence Sector Communications Office – Ministry of National Defence
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