In a joint and coordinated operation, carried out in the department of Bolívar, units of the Colombian Military Forces, in coordination with the National Police and with the support of the Attorney General's Office, neutralized alias Mocho Tierra, who was ringleader of the South-South subregion of the front of war Darío Ramírez Castro. Three more terrorists of this Organized Armed Group, GAO, Eln, were captured.
This operation was possible after an arduous and detailed intelligence operation of the National Army, which led to an operation of the Colombian Air Force and the National Army Special Forces on a camp in the municipality of La Cachaza, in the municipality of Montecristo , south of Bolívar, where three assault rifles, three pistols, magazines, ammunition, communications equipment, military accessories and relevant documentation were found. All these elements will be available to the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation.
Alias 'Mocho Tierra' was considered a high value target and was linked to the planning and execution of terrorist operations against civilians and the Security forces in the departments of Antioquia and Bolívar. He was in this GAO for more than 27 years and he currently had three fronts of the ELN under his command. He worked, among other criminal activities, as head of the company 'Héroes de Tarazá' and was currently in charge of collecting the finances derived from drug trafficking and the illicit exploitation of mining deposits in the region, which monthly produced approximately 4 billion pesos for that illegal organization.
This individual had a judicial process for the crime of terrorism, which was ordered by a specialized Prosecutor from Medellín. Alias Mocho Tierra, in addition, was involved in the planning and execution of the hijacking of the Avianca Fokker plane in 1999 and the murder of several members of the Security forces. He was in the same way responsible for the kidnapping of Corporal Jair de Jesús Villar Ortiz in the village El Diamante in the municipality of Segovia, in Antioquia, in February 2016.
With the neutralization of alias Mocho Tierra, and the three terrorists on the front of war Darío Ramírez Castro, the command and control subsystem of the narco-terrorist organization is hited. The strategic criminal expansion operations on the departments of Antioquia and Bolívar are neutralized as well as the planning, conduction and execution of terrorist operations against the Security forces, civilians and the strategic assets of the State. The illicit income from drug trafficking is reduced, which impacts the logistical and structural capacity of this criminal organization.
Source: Defense Sector Communication - Ministry of National Defense
