With the arrest of top neo-paramilitary leader Ruben Giraldo, Colombian authorities set their sights on the two brothers who have reportedly inherited his organization, “Clan Giraldo” aka “La Oficina del Caribe.”
Police and the prosecutor general are reportedly in the process of issuing arrest warrants for two brothers of Ruben Giraldo, whose Oficina del Caribe neo-paramilitary organization is currently mired in a bloody turf war with the rival “Los Urabeños” in Colombia’s northern city of Santa Marta. The brothers go by the aliases of “Hormiga” and “Cascarita,” the former of which allegedly runs the combat side of the operation, while the latter reportedly controls the organization’s finances.
After the recent arrest of Ruben Giraldo in the capital of Bogota, authorities suspect that control of the organization has fallen to the two brothers.
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According to the Colombian police’s counter-narcotics unit, Giraldo and his group transports cocaine from the Caribbean coast to Central America using go-fast boats. Once allied with the Los Urabeños, the Giraldo clan reportedly split over a dispute regarding the split of income from the trade.
MORE: ‘New neo-paramilitary group taking over Santa Marta’
Ruben Giraldo is the nephew of Hernan Giraldo, alias “El Patron,” an extradited former bloc commander of the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). Ruben Giraldo, himself a former paramilitary, officially demobilized in 2006 under Colombia’s Justice and Peace process. Last December the Prosecutor General asked that Ruben Giraldo be expelled from the process.
Sources