The director of the National Police, Jorge Luis Vargas, provided details about the operation in which Juan Lárnison Castro Estupiñán was killed in Bolívar, Santander
The Police revealed several photos that would correspond to the body of Juan Larinson Castro, alias Matamba. (Colprensa-Externos)
Juan Lárnison Castro Estupiñán, alias Matamba, was targeted by the authorities on more than one occasion, but since his escape from La Picota prison on March 18, finding his whereabouts has become a priority. This Thursday his search ended, as President Iván Duque assured that the member of the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), also known as Clan del Golfo, was discharged in Bolívar, Santander.
The escape of alias Matamba had the peculiarity of unleashing a controversy that involved the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec). The guard Milton Libardo Jiménez Arboleda, the dragoonist Jeison Bernal Novoa and the assistant bachelor Juan Camilo Ortiz Ruíz are involved in the case for complicity in the escape of the paramilitary.
The Attorney General’s Office of the The Nation determined that on the night of that March 18, the inmate escaped from the prison — where he was staying in the extraditable pavilion — dressed as one of the Inpec guards.
< p class=”paragraph”>Matamba went through a gate that was left unsecured by the drug addict Novia and also crossed through a door that was supposedly guarded by the same official. Auxiliary Ruiz, for his part, could see how the paramilitary left the prison; however, he received a call just as alias Matamba was leaving the premises, boarding a car with an unknown destination, supposedly as a distraction.
From that moment, the authorities carried out different operations to locate the leader of the AGC’s La Cordillera Sur. It should be remembered that Castro Estupiñán was captured in 2021 and was in prison for the crimes of kidnapping, torture, homicide of a protected person, forced displacement and conspiracy to commit a crime. Likewise, he was facing prosecution in the state of Florida, United States, for money laundering and cocaine and heroin trafficking.
Details of the operation against alias Matamba
The director of the National Police, General Jorge Luis Vargas, provided details of the operation in which the fugitive was discharged and pointed out that everything was carried out in conjunction with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency ( DEA). “From the moment of the escape, the special team that captured this criminal was activated again,” said the senior officer.
The general explained that the Police received information that alias Matamba was in the Eastern Plains, “but this was to misinform.” The intelligence team of the same entity traveled to the States and received key information that would lead to the whereabouts of the paramilitary.
“We had precise information (…) that this criminal was leaving to stay there (Santander) for a while and then go to the south of the country,” he specified. Vargas also assured that he would deliver the reward for that information, since “It was human sources from agencies of that drug-trafficking organization who gave it to us.”
Furthermore, there was another important piece of information that made it possible to follow the trail of Castro Estupiñán: a meeting at the Magdalena Medio with criminals from the extinct United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) – of which Matamba was a part -. Among those was “one of the leaders of what remains of the Clan del Golfo, alias ‘Gonzalito‘, with whom he sought to retake the area where he committed crimes,” said the director of the Police.
In fact, a Venezuelan witch was one of the key sources to find the whereabouts of the member of the Clan del Golfo. Eight jungle commandos had been following and intercepting communications for months to find alias Matamba and among the conversations that of the citizen of the neighboring country stood out. As it was known, the ringleader asked her for advice on her criminal actions.
The information on the location of the criminal was confirmed by DEA agents. Juan Lárnison Castro Estupiñán was hiding in a house in Bolívar, Santander, where there was a truck in the middle of an unpaved road. The authorities revealed a photograph of the property where they discharged him.
“When we came to capture him, he clashed with the Police, he would have thrown a grenade at the Police Jungle Commandos,” explained Vargas and stated that General Ricardo Alarcón, the anti-narcotics director, was also in charge. of the operation. “Also, we had a senior jungler officer at all times leading the ground operation,” he added.
At the moment, the Police are looking for the escort that alias Matamba had, “we know he is injured,” said the director of the institution. Likewise, he confirmed that the removal of the corpse was carried out so that the Prosecutor’s Office determines where the autopsy will be carried out. “We emphasize that a rifle, a pistol, two revolvers and various ammunition were seized,” commented Vargas.
The criminal history of alias Matamba< /b>
Castro Estupiñán’s first encounters with criminal structures were in mid-1996, when he was recruited by the extinct FARC guerrilla without even reaching the age of majority. He was under the command of alias Anuar on the 29th front as a low-ranking guerrilla; however, he did not last long in the organization due to an execution order issued against him. In 2000 he managed to escape to join another outlaw group: the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
According to the Justice and Peace documents, alias Matamba entered the Calima Block, in the department of Cauca thanks to alias El Enano. Eventually, he went to the Libertadores del Sur Bloc and committed crimes between El Charco and Tumaco. On December 16, 2003, when he was captured for the first time by the authorities. He fell in the municipality of Cartago, north of Valle del Cauca, for the murder of Alberto Paredes Paredes for which he was convicted in the year 2005 and sent to prison.
At that time the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia advanced the submission to justice and once sentenced, he submitted the request to be covered by the Justice and Peace Law. He participated in almost 30 proceedings in which he confessed to the same number of crimes. However, it was not possible to find all the bodies and it did not offer goods to repair the victims.
In 2015, he entered the reintegration process, but the last time he received psychosocial care was in July 2016, because he had returned to his criminal activities. In August of that year, the Army Gaula captured him in the municipality of Tumaco, after a confrontation. At that time he had firearms, ammunition, uniforms and elements alluding to the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, and was under the command of the recently extradited alias Otoniel.
Alias Matamba achieved in 2017 a pre-agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office, who granted him the benefit of house arrest and he escaped once again by deactivating the electronic surveillance device. Until May 18, 2021, the Police found him again in a luxurious and spacious home in Floridablanca, Santander, where he was celebrating a birthday and they subdued him on the floor of the balcony.
< p class=”paragraph”>By then he was no longer a common criminal, he was the highest leader of a structure known as The Cordillera. The offender was held in La Picota prison until he managed to escape in March last March.