Photo: DANIEL MUNOZ / AFP / Getty Images
For: EFE
Thursday, November 7
“Otoniel” and president of Colombia star in “shock” for version of his capture
The head of the Gulf Clan, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel”, assured this Tuesday before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) that voluntarily surrendered and that he was not detained by the authorities, something that the Colombian president, Iván Duque , dismissed by ensuring that he was captured in an operation.
The one who was the most wanted drug trafficker in Colombia until his arrest assured in a hearing before the high court, arising from the peace agreement signed by the Government and the FARC guerrilla in 2016, which gave himself to a group of soldiers to respect the life , as revealed by local media.
This contrasts with the official version, according to which “Otoniel” was arrested on 23 October in a joint operation of the Colombian Police and the Armed Forces in a point called Cerro Yoki, in the jurisdiction of Necoclí, municipality of the department of Antioquia (northwest), where it had been surrounded for months.
In this regard, Duque assured this Tuesday: “Alias ’Otoniel’ says that they did not capture him. The first thing I want to say is: what is that vermin going to say when she’s already in a dungeon in a US jail? ? He is a criminal who was captured, who killed policemen, who kidnapped people, who had been hunting him for a long time. ”
he knows how they captured him, he knows how far the intelligence got to him and we show him that it is not possible against the state. So that vermin, that criminal, is notified that when he goes to jail in the United States, which is what corresponds to him with the extradition, he will continue to say the same thing, “added Duque.
Last 25 of November, the Colombian president assured that his Government had received the formal request for the extradition of “Otoniel” to the United States.
The United States requests the extradition of the criminal chief l to to respond to the courts in New York and Florida for charges related to drug trafficking.
Against Úsuga there is in Colombia 122 arrest warrants and six convictions, including two of 40 Y 50 years in prison, for aggravated homicide, homicide of a protected person, forced disappearance, forced displacement and illegal recruitment or minors.
A life dedicated to crime
The drug dealer, from 50 years, has spent a lifetime involved in illegal groups, since he joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a Maoist group, with 16 years.
Then he went to the dissolved United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), where he worked hand in hand with one of his best known bosses, Daniel Rendón Herrera, alias “Don Mario”, in charge of laundering assets and pay extortion.
When he demobilized from the AUC in 2006 decided to form his own group together with a brother, which was initially called “Los Urabeños.”
That group spread to become the largest gang in the country, accused of targeted homicides, assassinations of social leaders, recruitment of minors, extortion, forced disappearances and displacement and confinement.
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