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Hundreds of hours of calls analyzed by the Prosecutor’s Office to the key files of the criminal gang reveal how this group, made up of the relatives of the terror of La Guajira, operated in that region; however, they would do little against him. This is the story.
For March 15, 2021, a specialized judge in Bogotá is expected to issue a ruling against several members of the Jesús Figueroa clan, alias Marquitos, the boss of La Guajira, who is accused of several crimes in northern Colombia, such as having been a key element in drug trafficking and smuggling on the Caribbean coast. In this case, Marcos Francisco Figueroa (son of the aforementioned criminal boss), Paul Corrales Figueroa (nephew), Luis Felipe Figueroa (nephew) and lawyer Diego Parody (son-in-law), for having allegedly participated in the homicide, are in the dock. of Yandra Brito, former mayor of Barrancas, in August 2012 in Valledupar.
(Also read: “Ñeñe Hernández” and “Marquitos Figueroa”, proof of their closeness)
Last Monday, November 30, the process entered its final stretch when the hearing of closing arguments was held. During the most complex months of the quarantine, the trial was held: at the end of July, the Prosecutor’s Office began to show various evidence that Brito was murdered on the orders of Kiko Gómez, former governor of La Guajira, who is already convicted of this crime), because Brito would have defaulted on a payment when he became Mayor of Barrancas. Among the tests are some interceptions of the 47,000 that were made to try to show that Marquitos and his people were the perpetrators. Figueroa is before another court for these events and the final arguments will be made on January 15.
Interceptions
El Espectador got to know those audios that were picked up by the Blue room of the Puma de la Dijín platform. They say little about the Yandra Brito case, but they do speak about how the mafia operated at ease in that area. During the trial, the only audio in which Brito’s murder is indirectly mentioned is from a dialogue between aliases Balacho, man from the group of Marquitos that coordinated extortions for the passage of illegal gasoline from Venezuela, with one of his subordinates. In their conversation they talk about a rumor that appeared in local networks and media that people from Marquitos He was seeking to assassinate a sister of Yandra Brito.
(You may be interested: “‘Marquitos’ has nothing to do with that shit”: Ñeñe Hernández’s words)
The wiretapping of attorney Parody gives an account of the criminal context in which the Figueroa clan operates, such as calls to ask for a name to “peel” someone, inquiries about why Paul Corrales (who assumed command when Marquitos escaped to Brazil) was captured in 2013 or to warn that a house was going to be searched and that apparently that information was passed on by former prosecutor Alcides Pimienta (convicted of favoring Kiko Gomez already Marquitos in 2017). In addition, there is a call from Corrales from prison to Diego Parody to help an acquaintance of his get him out, since this prosecutor from La Guajira, known as Chidy, “He has behaved with me at the height (…) send him to tell the doctor that he is collaborating.”
Through these audios, the investigating body also managed to establish what role each of the accused today had. Marco Francisco, known as PachoHe was in charge of smuggling fuel that enters and is transported through La Guajira; Luis Felipe, who they call Tube OR Pipe FilmIt would have a close relationship with drug trafficking. For his part, Parody has a great connection with the former prosecutor Pimienta, who, apparently, was helping the gang Marquitos and was captured in May 2015. Since July 2019, Tube, Pacho and Parody face this process in freedom.
The other who has been free since then and appears in the interceptions is Juan Carlos León, Yandra Brito’s successor in the Barrancas Mayor’s Office, and in addition to the lawyer Parody. In October 2013, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, León called the criminal lawyer to corrupt officials of the Prosecutor’s Office who were investigating the people of Marquitos, including himself. “Yeah, cousin, that’s where we fit. Give two loaves to those who need it (…) My pod that went to Bogotá has already been archived, right? ”Asks the local ex-president. To which Parody replies: “Yes, it was crumbly.”
(Read: The crimes that closed the door to “Marquitos” Figueroa at the JEP)
For these crimes, the former governor of La Guajira, Francisco Kiko Gómez Cerchar, who is imprisoned in La Picota, has already been sentenced to 55 years. He is also convicted of the murder of the husband of the former mayor, Henry Ustáriz, shot by men from the criminal gang of Marquitos on April 2, 2008 on the road that connects the municipality of Fonseca with Barrancas (La Guajira). Gómez also has a conviction for the murder of another politician from that municipality: that of Luis López Peralta, Barrancas councilor, which occurred in February 1997. For these events, he was sentenced to forty years in prison in June 2017 by another specialized court.
“Ñeñe”, “Mandarino” and “Jorge 40”
The year 2020 was one of the most mediatic for Figueroa. In March, the interceptions against José became known the Ñeñe Hernández, an opaque man from La Guajira and Cesar, noted as being the front man of his own Marquitos Figueroa. For those audios today the authorities are investigating the Ñeñe, who was assassinated in May 2019 in Brazil, was part of a maneuver to put money under the table in the campaign of today’s president Iván Duque on the Caribbean coast. Initially, Hernández was intercepted because it was being investigated whether he had participated in the murder of Óscar Rodríguez Pomar, perpetrated in August 2011 in Barranquilla.
Marquitos is about to be called to trial for this crime, after more than a year of delays in making it effective. The last one was presented last October, when he challenged the judge in the case of having received money to prevent him from facing the trial in freedom. The lawyer for Rodríguez Pomar’s family, Miguel Ángel del Río, was accused of having delivered those money; however, the latter assured that it is an unfounded claim in order to delay the start of the trial and allow Figueroa to end free. In addition to the challenge being rejected, since no evidence of the alleged bribery was found, the reading of the indictment was scheduled for next December 14.
The Prosecutor’s Office also established another possible connection between “Marquitos” and Armando Gnecco Vega, alias “Mandarino”. In June 2019, more than 12,000 assets were seized that are valued at $ 1.2 billion and are now in the process of extinction of ownership. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, these men are linked to several murders of businessmen and political leaders in the Colombian Caribbean. In the operation, properties of “Ñeñe” Hernández were also seized. “Said assets would have been acquired with money from drug trafficking and would appear in the name of Figueroa or third parties and other relatives of this individual,” the Prosecutor’s Office said at the time.
Figueroa was also mentioned again with the return of former paramilitary chief “Jorge 40”, who was serving a sentence of about eleven years in the United States for drug trafficking. In Valledupar it is known that in the 1990s “Marquitos” was the head of the paramilitary guard Jorge Gnecco Cerchar, who ended up assassinated by order of the Castaño brothers and Rodrigo Tovar Pupo himself, as “Jorge 40” is really called. “They (Tovar and Figueroa) fought over the issue of tolls from the Auc to pass cocaine through various ports in Magdalena and La Guajira. Even ‘Marquitos’ went to the house of Rodrigo’s wife one day to threaten them, “a former confidant of” Jorge 40 “told this newspaper.
Defense of Marquitos In this case, the lawyer Andrés Palacios read the messages that this newspaper sent him to find out his position, but he never replied. In the trial against Marquitos there are several testimonies and the theory of the case does not depend on interceptions. Figueroa’s defense has said that when his client was deported from Brazil in 2016, it was established in this immigration process that his client would not be prosecuted for events that occurred before August 2011. An agreement that affects the murders of Dílker Becerra and Iván Martínez Aroca, committed on August 8, 2011 in La Guajira, and that of Henry Ustáriz (and his bodyguard) murdered in 2008 as part of that vendetta electoral.
