Duque confirms takeover in Spain of alias “ El Zarco ”, a recruiter of “ false positives ” who will be extradited to Colombia

This Saturday, February 13, the president Iván Duque confirmed from Arauca that Luis Jhon Castro Ramírez, alias El Zarco, had been taken over in Spain a demobilized member of the National Liberation Army (Eln) and an admitted “false positive” recruiter.

“Our police have strengthened communication with the police forces of the Kingdom of Spain and today we have confirmed the capture of the pseudonym El Zarco so that he can be extradited to the country as soon as possible, this criminal must pay here for everything he did “, declared the head of state.

Here’s what President Duque said:

Last week, the European country’s court decision to release the criminal caused a stir. It seems, Spain has not received the extradition request from the government of President Iván Duque and once they made it available to Colombia, Bogotá did not claim it.

Faced with these versions, the Chancellery and the Ministry of Justice denied the situation and held Interpol responsible.

In a statement, the chancellor Claudia Blum underlined that the entity in this process, “acted in the exercise of its functions of diplomatic channel, and in coordination with the Ministry of Justice, transmit in due time all communications and notifications generated in this case, between the Spanish and Colombian authorities ”.

He assured that, in the case of Spain, the coordination and the procedures of transfer of the confessed criminal are done directly between the offices of Interpol Colombia and Spain, regardless of the diplomatic channel.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has timely transmitted both the decision granting the extradition of April 2020, as well as the communication of October 2020 to make Alias ​​El Zarco available for his transfer to Colombia “Blum said.

And he added that, this last decision has been duly communicated to the Ministry of Justice, which in turn forwarded it to the Interpol Colombia office, in charge of coordinating the transfer directly with Interpol Spain.

According to the version of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Interpol Colombia office asked its counterpart in Spain for several extensions for the transfer and, in turn, asked him to transmit, through the diplomatic channel, several requests for extensions to carry out the transfer, which have been communicated to the Spanish authorities.

For his part, the Minister of Justice, Wilson Ruiz, in dialogue with W Radio, He assured that his portfolio and the Foreign Ministry had followed all procedures to ensure that “ El Zarco ” was extradited to Colombia.

“Faced with the case of Luis John Castro Ramírez, known under the pseudonym of El Zarco, I must indicate that the Ministry of Justice and Law and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have done all the paperwork required and we have done everything possible to ensure that this member of Eln is brought to Colombian justice for his crime “said the official.

It is expected that with this recapture, the extradition process will be activated again and the person involved will be extradited to the country.

In testimony to the prosecution, “ El Zarco ” said he had contributed to the executions because at that time, when he was trying to demobilize, Intelligence Sergeant Rubiel Bustos Escarraga, alias “ Mauricio ” ‘, had offered his help, only if he collaborated in the recruitment task: “The county has Mauricio my intention to demobilize speaks to me of the demobilized plan (…) but to enter this program, I had to collaborate and give a lot of information ”.

‘El Zarco’ is also linked to the alleged extrajudicial execution of three young men in Valle del Cauca, at the hands of the Alta Montaña No. 3 Battalion of the Cali Army’s Third Brigade, in 2007. There was reported a guardianship filed in 2015 by the families of the victims before the Superior Court of the judicial district of Cali, to serve as a “geographical guide” to the national army for the commission of the crime.

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