Colombian AGC Paramilitary Group Retaliates in Response to Leader Otoniel's Extradition to the US

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The paramilitary group AGC began a terror campaign in northwest Colombia on Wednesday in response to the extradition of their former leader, “Otoniel.”

One person was assassinated in the Cordoba province on Thursday allegedly for opening his shop against paramilitary orders. Public transport companies suspended their services in AGC-controlled territories after at least 50 vehicles were incinerated by presumed paramilitaries.

Shops and schools remained closed in Cordoba, Atlantico and Sucre, and parts of Antioquia and Bolivar. Locals from Cesar said on social media that traffic was being shut down in their province too. These claims have not been confirmed by independent media. In Cordoba and Antioquia, 15 local radio stations shut down after receiving threats from the AGC, according to the press freedom foundation FLIP.

What is happening right now in the north of the country is sad and regrettable. There is no State or democracy at this hour in Uraba, Bajo Cauca, Cordoba, Sucre, Southern Bolivar, among other areas. Local television station “La Chiva” from the northwestern Uraba region reported “absolute solitude” in the port city of Turbo on Thursday.

Locals from peripheral neighborhoods in Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, said that gangs aligned with the AGC ordered the closing of neighborhood shops. Also in Barranquilla, Colombia’s largest port city on the Caribbean coast, a bus was incinerated.

Defense Minister Diego Molano said that regional authorities had met to “attend possible retaliations” in areas controlled by the paramilitaries and said that five alleged AGC members were arrested. He warned that in some of the northwestern regions of Colombia, a "pistol plan" was being devised against members of the National Police and the Public Force, which would have been organized by the Clan del Golfo, considered the largest criminal gang in Colombia, in retaliation for the extradition of alias Otoniel.

The head of the Defense portfolio referred to the serious alterations of public order that have been registered during the day in departments such as Córdoba, Sucre, and Antioquia, in which the criminal organization of paramilitary origin, also known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), declared an armed strike in response to the extradition of its top boss, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, to the United States Government.

“The Gulf Clan is beginning to feel the effects of Otoniel's capture more and more. The redoubts in the areas of Urabá, Bajo Cauca, and especially around the Puerto Valdivia area, are where they have sought to develop, with intelligence information, a pistol plan against the police and the public force, ”he indicated. Molano in statements known by the national media El Espectador.

In turn, he pointed out that the public force had planned strategies within the 'Democracy Plan', through which it seeks to guarantee the security and rights of citizens and candidates who participate in the elections in the country, especially in the regions in which the Clan del Golfo has a presence, such as Magdalena Medio, Bajo Cauca Antioqueño and Sur de Bolívar after the capture and extradition of its top leader.

In this sense, he reported that during this day regional security councils were held in the departments of Córdoba, Sucre, Antioquia, Magdalena, and Atlántico with the purpose of adopting preventive measures and coordinating actions against blockades, incineration of vehicles, intimidation, and threats against the civilian population that is present in these towns in northwestern Colombia.

“There have been three road obstructions, of which only one is between the Turbo - Chigorodó road; as well as the effects on some vehicles, which have been incinerated and of course, the offensive continues against this Gulf Clan. During the day, five arrests have been made in the cities of Montería, Barranquilla, and Cereté that would belong to this criminal structure, ”concluded Minister Molano.

For his part, Colonel Gabriel Bonilla González, commander of the Córdoba Police, indicated that together with the Traffic Police in this department, road caravans are being carried out to guarantee the safety and tranquility of the citizens who transit this road, noting that the roads of the department are fully enabled and secured for the transit of the community.

Throughout the day, the burning of public transport buses and trucks has been denounced, as well as the restriction of mobility of the communities and the murder of a merchant in the Plaza de Cereté, Córdoba, as part of the retaliation of the illegal armed group.

Source Colombia Reports, Infobae