Colombia’s military has captured FARC veteran “The Doctor”, a 10 year-member of the rebel group who has been linked to numerous illegal operations throughout the country’s pacific coast, said the Defense Minister on Tuesday.
Jose Castro Chillambo , nom de guerre “the Doctor,” was captured in the southwestern state of Nariño near the Pacific coast city of Tumaco, a city that has experienced a decade of assassinations, extortion, and drug-trafficking related violence. According to Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon this violence is directly related to the FARC member.
The Doctor is said to be the current Major of the “Daniel Aldana” column of the FARC rebel group, the largest in country that has recently resumed peace talks with the Colombian government in Cuba in a bid to end the 50-year civil conflict.
According to the National Director of Police, general Rodolfo Palomino, the Doctor conducted criminal activities to control and influence Tumaco, “this criminal was dedicated with greater emphasis on intimidating the inhabitants of rural areas of Tumaco to grow and process the coca leaf, while in the urban areas he threatened merchants with extortion.”
The Doctor is said to be the driving influence in many of the FARC’s illegal activities in country’s isolated southwestern region — including a series of infrastructure attacks that left the city of Tumaco without power for two weeks, and an explosion at a police station in 2012.
The captured FARC member has been one of many to be detained in the past few days as the Colombian government seemingly increases the pressure on the guerrilla group while at the same time discussing the fragile topic of drug trafficking in the peace talks.
Sources
- La columna móvil Daniel Aldana de las Farc quedó sin ‘Doctor’ (Ministerio de Defensa Nacional Press Release)