Colombian Drug Lord "El Boliqueso" Arrested in Mexico, Will Be Extradited To US

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat

The Colombian drug lord and leader of the “Los Rastrojos” Eduard Fernando Giraldo, alias “El Boliqueso”, was arrested in Mexico City and deported back to Colombia, where he was re-arrested and currently awaits US extradition.

The Arrest

Colombia’s National Police have been intent on recapturing El Boliqueso ever since a local judge decided to release him from Brazilian custody back in November 2018. The National Police say that for four years they have been prioritizing finding his new location and developing a strategy to re-arrest him.  

At some point, they received intelligence suggesting El Boliqueso was now operating again while living within Mexico City, Mexico. A Colombian intelligence group was sent to Mexico and with the aid of the Mexican marines (SEMAR), they surveilled and followed Boliqueso as he moved throughout Mexico City, as well as traveling to the city of Acapulco, in Guerrero. 

The director of the Colombian National Police Jorge Luis Vargas described their surveillance, saying that they “followed Boliqueso for several months in Acapulco, Mexico City and other cities where boats, vehicles, luxury apartments were detected. In addition, women arriving from several countries were followed in order to pinpoint his location.”

They found that he was primarily living out of an apartment within the Coyoacán borough of Mexico City.  

After these months of surveillance, authorities decided to swoop in and Boliqueso was arrested in Coyoacán, however no details have been given about the date or manner of his arrest. The Colombian National Police simply stated that “the capture of Boliqueso was achieved with the collaboration of Mexican, British and US authorities.” 

Video Source: El Tiempo

Once Boliqueso was arrested, he was deported out of Mexico back to Colombia. When Boliqueso re-entered Colombia, the National Police officially re-arrested him, telling him that the US was seeking his extradition.

Who are Los Rastrojos?

After the fragmentation of both the Cali and Medellín Cartels, Cártel del Norte del Valle emerged as one of the primary cartels operating in Colombia. In 2003 it splintered due to a series of alleged collaborations between its leadership figures (such as Helmer Pacho Herrera, Victor Patiño Fomeque, Miguel Solano) and the US DEA, which divided loyalties. 

This ultimately resulted in a split of Cártel del Norte, with Wilber Varela Fajardo, alias “El Jabón” leading a group called Los Rastrojos on one side and Diego Montoya Sanchez, alias “Don Diego” leading a group called “Los Machos” on the other side. In 2007, Don Diego arrested and in 2008, El Jabón was murdered while at a resort in Venezuela, but the death of these figures did not end the Los Machos and Los Rastrojos rivalry. 

Three important leadership figures emerged for Los Rastrojos, Diego Perez Henao, alias "Diego Rastrojo", as well as Luis Enrique Calle Serna and Javier Antonio Calle Serna, known as the Combas brothers. By 2012, however, all three of these leaders were in custody.

After the 2012 arrests of the three Rastrojos leaders, a power vacuum emerged. Then its new leader Jorge Eliécer Domínguez Falla, alias “El Palustre”, was arrested within just one year, leaving a power vacuum again. 

What is Bolqueso's criminal history? 

A 25-year old Rastrojos hitman from Cali named Eduard Fernando Giraldo, alias “El Boliqueso”, took advantage of this and seized power within the organization. El Boliqueso formed a partnership with another emerging Rastrojos leader, Weimarg Ramírez Vargas, alias “El Manila”, and for a time they led the group together. 

In 2015, El Manila and Boliqueso allegedly had a falling out and they grew to become rivals, splitting the group in half, with some following Manila and some following Boliqueso. 

In January 2016, Boliqueso fled Colombia and began traveling towards Brazil, where he intended to form new business partnerships with Brazilian traffickers in order to bolster the currently fading power of Rastrojos. 

To avoid DEA detections, Boliqueso did not fly to Brazil, but instead drove betweenColombia to Peru, then from Peru to Bolivia, then Bolivia to Brazil. 

After laying low for a few months, Boliqueso’s wife thought the surveillance had lessened and she tried to flee Colombia and rejoin Boliqueso in Brazil, however this just led intelligence agents right to him. In April 2016, Boliqueso was arrested in Ribeirão Preto, the northeast section of São Paulo, Brazil. 

In November 2018, a local judge in Brazil decided to release Boliqueso from custody, in a move that greatly upset the Colombian National Police. Boliqueso was able to slip away and escape the country, and his trail was lost for many years. Or at least it was, evidently, until sometime this year when signs of him in Mexico City popped up on the radar of intelligence agencies. 

Sources: El Tiempo, Telemundo, El Universo, El Nuevo Siglo

Background Sources: El Pais, Cacau Extremo, Insight Crime - Cartel Norte Valle, Q'Hubo