In an exchange of rifle shots, alias Pájaro, who was in the same way a militia ringleader, was wounded and, despite priority assistance, he died in a health care facility.
Both men were accused of activating the explosive charge that left a soldier killed and two more wounded last Thursday, February 3, in the municipality of Fortul, Arauca.
In military operations, conducted by the National Army, joint, coordinated and inter-institutional with the Colombian Air Force, the Navy of Colombia, the Police and the Prosecutor's office with the support of the Network of Civic Participation, in the village Bajo Quirinal, in the rural area of the municipality of Fortul, Arauca, and individual was arrested. He is alias “Mica Trope,” an individual accused of being the main ringleader of the terrorist network urban Front-of-War East of the Organised Armed Group, GAO, Eln. In the same operation, alias Pájaro was killed during military operations, who would be the militia ringleader of the Omaira Montoya Henao group of the Domingo Laín Sanz front of the same organized armed group.
These individuals, realizing the work of the soldiers, opened fire on the soldiers, and in that exchange of fire it was possible to arrest them. The second, alias Pajaro, was injured. After securing the area, the military rescuers, safeguarding life and respecting human rights and in compliance with the international humanitarian law, provided first aid. Subsequently, he was taken in a helicopter of the National Army to the capital city of Arauca to receive priority medical assistance, but eventually he died in the care center.
“Mica Tropo,” according to the authorities, would have a criminal experience of more than 12 years in that terrorist structure, with extensive experience and training in the development and orientation of high-impact terrorist actions, through the use of improvised explosive devices in the municipalities of Saravena, Fortul and Tame, department of Arauca; he was the right-hand of alias Raúl or Nacho, main leader of the Eastern War front, of the GAO Eln.
For his part, alias Pájaro, who died in the course of that military operation, had a criminal record of more than 14 years within the Eln and carried out criminal actions as a logistical coordinator of criminal operations, carrying out the acquisition of military material and military accessories in order to provide the Domingo Laín Sanz front of the Eln. He would also be in charge of carrying out illegal activities in the urban area of the municipalities of Arauquita and Fortul. In turn, he was the ringleader of the support networks for terrorist operations against the Military Forces and the critical infrastructure of the State.
Among the terrorist operations in which the participation of these individuals is noted is the crime of the deputy commander of the Fortul police station on March 25, 2017. On March 28, he would have ordered the murder of two Army soldiers after an attack in the Caranal de Fortul village when they were escorting a collective passenger transport bus. In the same way, the attack on a platoon of the National Army, on September 11, 2021, which left a non-commissioned officer and four soldiers killed and six more wounded. He would also have coordinated and directed the movement of four criminals from the GAO Eln in a vehicle, to take photographs in the municipality of La Esmeralda, on January 16. He would also have planned and executed the terrorist action with explosive devices against a military convoy in the municipality of Fortul, Arauca, last Thursday, February 3, where a soldier was killed and two more wounded. Other terrorist operations include attacks on the Bicentenary pipeline, in order to continue the Eln's strategy of beating both members of the Military Forces and civilians and the State's strategic infrastructure in the department of Arauca.
The arrested individual and the material found were given to the authorities.
Source: press-National Army
