“Mocho Tierra” dies, designated Eln chief in Bolívar

The man was accused of commanding three guerrilla war fronts in this region. Three other men reported to be members of the guerrilla died in the operation.

Until the La Cachaza sidewalk in the municipality of Montecristo, in the south of Bolívar, the Public Force arrived this Wednesday looking for Mocho Tierra, one of the alleged leaders of the Darío Ramírez Castro war front of the Eln guerrilla. In the development of military operations, the Ministry of Defense assured, the alleged guerrilla leader died along with three other men, who would be his lieutenants.

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According to the Defense Minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, “an arduous and detailed work of intelligence by the National Army allowed the location and action of the Colombian Air Force and the Special Forces of the National Army on a camp area located on the sidewalk.” The man was considered a high-value target and his role in the guerrilla organization was more geared towards planning terrorist actions in the departments of Antioquia and Bolívar, according to authorities.

The Defense portfolio added that Mocho Tierra He had been in the guerrilla for more than 27 years and at the time of his death he was in command of three fronts of the group. He was in the “Heroes of Tarazá” structure and “was currently in charge of collecting the finances derived from drug trafficking and the illegal exploitation of mining sites in the region, whose monthly dividends were approximately $ 4,000 million for that illegal organization,” according to the high official. .

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The man was required by justice for the alleged crime of terrorism, in a process advanced by a specialized prosecutor from Medellín. Furthermore, he was linked to the investigation for the hijacking of Avianca flight 9463, which on April 12, 1999, covered the route from Bucaramanga to Bogotá when he was kidnapped by six ELN guerrillas. It is also indicated in the kidnapping of Corporal Jair de Jesús Villar Ortiz in the El Diamante district of Segovia (Antioquia) in February 2016, as well as in the murder of several soldiers.

Minister Trujillo added that in the place where “Mocho Tierra” died, three assault rifles, three pistols, suppliers, ammunition, communications equipment, administration materials and relevant documentation were seized. “All these elements will be available to the Attorney General’s Office,” he said. In addition, he defended the operation, since he maintains that the death of these four guerrillas “affects the command and control subsystem of the narco-terrorist organization.”

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Likewise, “strategic actions of criminal expansion on the departments of Antioquia and Bolívar are neutralized; the planning, conduction and execution of terrorist actions against the Public Force, the civilian population and the strategic assets of the State are prevented; and the self-financing with illicit income from drug trafficking is reduced, which impacts the logistical and structural capacity of this criminal organization ”.