At least four soldiers were killed and three others wounded in two attacks in the northwest. Colombia, which were committed “in retaliation” for the arrest of the drug lord Dairo Antonio Ushuga, also known by the pseudonym “Otoniel”, announced yesterday Tuesday (26/10) the armed forces.
The first attack, carried out Monday night through Tuesday, “in retaliation for the arrest of the most wanted drug trafficker by the world and Colombian authorities”, resulted in the death of three soldiers and the wounding of three others, he told a local radio network. General Huvenal Zeus.
The perpetrators detonated improvised explosive devices as military vehicles passed by and then opened fire, he said.
In a statement, the Colombian army announced yesterday Tuesday the death of another soldier in Ituango, community in the same prefecture, Antioch.
“A military unit was harassed by members of the same armed group, who wounded one of our soldiers,” resulting in the latter “unfortunately dying,” he said.
THE “Otoniel”, 50-year-old leader of the Clan del Golfo drug cartel, was arrested on Saturday in Necocles, in Antioch, during a large-scale, joint operation of the police and army in the jungle of the northwest Colombia. More than 500 police and military personnel took part in the operation with the support of almost twenty helicopters. A police officer was killed in the operation, which took place a short distance from the border with Panama.
“Forts”
The most wanted drug dealer in the world, which ranks first in the world in cocaine production, for information that would lead to the arrest of which the US offered a reward of 5 million dollars, the “Otoniel”, is currently in custody at Bogota.
He has been prosecuted by the US judiciary since 2009, and his extradition proceedings have been initiated on USA in order to be brought before a court New York.
“We reject and condemn the cowardly killing of three Colombian army men while on a surveillance mission” in Antioch, was the reaction of the Colombian president Ivan Duke via Twitter.
“These criminals and drug traffickers who attack our security forces will be prosecuted and brought to justice,” added the head of state, who belongs to the so-called hard right.
THE General Zeus estimated that the “fortresses” of the criminal network headed by “Otoniel” continue to operate, despite his arrest.
“All indications are that these criminals will retaliate,” the senior official warned.
THE Gulf Clan, formed by far-right paramilitaries who sowed terror in the 1990s when they fought far-left guerrillas, is estimated to have between 1,600 and 1,700 warriors and is present in nearly 300 communities (out of 1,100), according to the report. Colombian Research Center Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz, INDEPAZ) for 2020, recently published.
Yesterday Tuesday, however, the government said that its fighters and supporters Clan is somewhere around 3,800.
The organization controls drug export routes to Central America, a key sector in cocaine trafficking to USA, the country where the largest quantities of this substance are consumed.
In accordance with Ministry of Defense, the gang controls about 30% of cocaine production in the Andean state.
“This is the most important blow of this century to drug trafficking in our country (…), which can only be compared to the fall of Pablo Escobar“, Said the conservative president with satisfaction Duke.
The five decades of the so-called war on drugs with their support USA, its principles Colombia have killed or arrested several drug lords, most notably him Pablo Escobar, who was killed in an operation by law enforcement in 1993. At the time of his omnipotence, Escobar had come to control as much as 80% of the cocaine trade.
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