Defense minister says attacks on Duque and Brigade 30 were planned from Venezuela

This Thursday, the Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, and the Attorney General of the Nation, Francisco Barbosa, spoke of the two recent attacks on institutionality: that against President Iván Duque and that of the 30th Brigade.

So far, there are at least 10 captured, three of whom were involved in designing and executing the plan for the two events, while some that are already captured belong to the 33rd FARC Dissident Front. Concretely, the taxi driver who took the shooters to the place from where they shot Duque’s helicopter and another person are also apprehended, for whom they will be charged with attempted murder.

According to the prosecutor, two of them have been identified as Andrés Medina alias’ el Capi and the other is under the pseudonym ‘Miguel’. He added that five vehicles and relevant information were seized which enabled them to locate the people, capture them and bring them before a safeguards judge.

Diego Molano added that the attacks were planned from Venezuela and said “how the Maduro regime continues to harbor terrorism from which attacks on institutions are planned”.

Barbosa said that during the attack on Brigade 30, evidence was known which linked the father of “El Capi” and the pseudonym of Ciro, who was part of the National Protection Unit. These individuals have been charged with the crimes of aggravated terrorism, conspiracy to commit a crime, damage to the property of others, and manufacture or possession of weapons for the exclusive use of the armed forces.

Molano stressed that they continue to work to dismantle the 33rd Dissident Front and that he will seek to ensure that the full weight of the law falls on those responsible. He also referred to the army uniforms involved and said this could not tarnish the loyalty of “thousands of law enforcement personnel.”

For his part, Police General Jorge Luis Vargas reiterated that the plan had been orchestrated from Venezuela and that the explosive material used in Brigade 30 had also been brought from that country. Then he explained that the instructions for the plans and even how the bomb was activated were orders from the alias “Jhon Mechas”.

Who is ‘Jhon Mechas’

What the investigators of the case point out is that ‘Jhon Mechas’ is believed to be behind the order of the two attacks, although they do not rule out an alliance being made with the ELN. They established that the leader of the 33rd Dissident Front ordered the acts of violence against the 30th Brigade and President Duque, and who executed them was the second in command alias “Reinaldo”, as well as other men under his responsibility. .

The guerrillas would have under their power the border territory with Venezuela in the Norte de Santander, in the Caño Negro sector, between the Catatumbo region and the state of Zulia. From these places, Velosa is responsible for managing drug trafficking and the armed actions of dissidents against the Force Publique and the inhabitants.

On Velosa, the researchers were able to gather information which placed him in the guerrillas for 25 years, in charge of the popular militias in 1996, the Bolivarian militias in 2000 and, finally, in 2016, he took command of the dissidents of the 33rd front.

On the other hand, the newspaper El Tiempo pointed out that the military forces established that in the Norte de Santander there is a presence of the ELN, the ‘Clan del Golfo’, ‘Los Pelusos’ and two dissident sub-structures. Regarding the latter two, they report 150 dissidents belonging to fronts 33 and 45, led respectively by ‘Jhon Mechas’ and ‘William’.

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