In recent days Maximiliano Cañón was assassinated in the north of Bogotá, and powerful drug lords like Pedro Orejas, among others
, came to the fore again
In recent days, Maximiliano Cañón was assassinated in the north of Bogotá, and the names of Pedro Orejas and Víctor Carranza, two powerful emerald workers from Boyacá, came to light. Photo: Colprensa
A new wave of murders related to the emerald sector revived the memory of a proxy war that for years took hundreds of lives in the territory. The authorities of Boyacá and the national order They fear that a new confrontation has broken out in relation to the precious stone.
Since last year, homicides like the one that occurred in recent days have been recorded. close to the 93 park in Bogotá. The common denominator is that the victims are people directly related to the companies that are in charge of extracting emeralds from the Boyacá mines.
In the latest case, which occurred on the afternoon of last Thursday, June 2, men on motorcycles attacked Maximiliano Cañón, a representative of the company Fura y Tena S.A.S., dedicated to the extraction of emeralds, with a firearm.
The subject, who was in the company of his wife, received two bullet wounds that blinded his life minutes later, when he had already been transferred to the Los Nogales in the north of Bogotá.
In addition to the way in which he was killed, ruling out that it was a robbery because the criminals did not strip him of his belongings, what is especially striking is that Cañón was one of Pedro Nel Rincón’s opponents.
A new chapter in the war between emerald makers?
To better understand the context of this situation, which may be unknown to new generations, it is necessary to explain in broad terms how the emerald business has moved in the country and mention some of the most powerful clans that amassed huge fortunes in Colombia.
Better known as Pedro Orejas, he was the leader of the Rincón Clan, one of the most powerful and owners of one of the emerald mines juiciest in Boyacá and the national territory. This man was extradited to the United States in 2018 when he was serving a 27-year prison sentence in Colombia for murdering a peasant.
Photo: Colprensa/Caracol Radio
The extradition was clearly not related to the homicide, nor to the proceedings for conspiracy to commit a crime or illegal possession of weapons that were brought against him at some point. The United States made the extradition request because Pedro Orejas was related to drug trafficking.
The dark part of the emerald business is the one related to the creation of self-defense groups, assassinations and drug trafficking. Although it is a profitable business, for some clans the extraction of the precious stone opened the way for them through illegal trails that unleashed a river of blood for decades.
In addition to El Rincón, it is necessary to remember the Clan that was headed by the called ‘Czar’ of the emeralds, Víctor Carranza. These two were the protagonists of the last chapter of the remembered ‘Green War’, which occurred between the 90s and 2000s. Apparently, what remained of these clans would also be related to the most recent homicides.
Photo: Colprensa
Both clans were targeted by authorities for years for their alleged links to paramilitaries and drug trafficking. Although Pedro Orejas was extradited, Víctor Carranza died of cancer without having been tried for any crime related to these scourges.
It should also be remembered that, although at some point these clans did a truce and they distributed part of the emerald business, this did not last long and there were more confrontations, threats and accusations from both sides, in addition to the high number of murders.
Despite the fact that for many years this emerald war apparently ceased, with the death of Carranza and the extradition of Orejas, new homicides related to this sector have been reported since 2021.
< u>The latest homicides related to emerald workers
In early 2021, Jorge Enrique Gómez, associated with this activity, and his escort were < b>murdered inside a parking lot in downtown Bogotá.
Gómez was a key member of the clan of the late Víctor Carranza, who sustained the prolonged conflict with the Orejas clan . A similar event occurred on March 24, when Alcibiades Moreno was also shot in the Muzo municipality, Boyacá.
In the case of Maximiliano, although He says that he was an opponent of Orejas, contrary to what many would think, he was a relative of the extradited. According to some local media, the representative of Fura y Tena S.A.S. assassinated last Thursday, was pointed out by some as the person responsible for the death of Pedro Simón Rincón, son of Pedro Orejas, which occurred in 2014.