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Bus set on fire by the Clan del Golfo in Yarumal, Antioquia
The first day of the “armed strike” of the Clan del Golfo in Colombia left dozens of violent acts.
After the extradition this week to the United States of alias Othnielthe criminal organization that the narco leader directed, the Gulf Clanretaliated and began an “armed strike” that will last four days.
On the first day, around 100 incinerated vehicles, including trucks, buses, cars and motorcycles, were reported on different highways in the north of the country, according to the government.
The local press, for its part, shared parts of the statement signed by the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), as the criminal organization is also known, in which they announce that in the departments of Antioquia, Chocó and Córdoba “all activities social, economic, educational and cultural are suspended” until next May 10.
During the attacks known in Colombia as “armed strikes”, criminal groups block roads, restrict free mobility and send threatening messages that force the closure of commercial establishments and the suspension of classes in schools and universities.
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One of the attacks in Antioquia
In response to the events, the interior minister, diego molanoattended regional security councils in the most affected areas.
Molano revealed that Wilver Giraldo, alias ‘Sipoas’, and Jesús Ávila Villadiego, alias ‘Chiquito Malo’, assumed leadership of the criminal group following Otoniel’s capture in 2021.
Molano also announced that they have increased the reward for each of the leaders
The Clan of the Gulf
Also called Autodefensas Gaitanistas, Los Urabeños or Clan Úsuga, the Clan is one of the main criminal organizations in Colombia and is dedicated to drug trafficking and illegal mining.
According to a report by the National Police and the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, the criminal organization has a presence in 211 of the 1,103 municipalities in the country.
It is estimated that more than thousand men They acted under the leadership of alias Otoniel, most of them former members of the extinct guerrilla group the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) and the self-defense groups.
And that has an explanation. Otoniel himself was part of the EPL and, when this guerrilla group demobilized in 1991, he decided to change sides: he became a member of the self-defense groups that occupied the Urabá region, in northwestern Colombia.
Otoniel, whose name is Darío Antonio Úsuga David, was extradited this week to the US and pleaded not guilty before a federal prosecutor in New York, waived his request for bail and awaits a jury trial.
