A Colombian paramilitary leader, who the Prosecutor General says led a paramilitary force of about 2,000 members in five Venezuelan border states and who is wanted for multiple homicide, was arrested at the Venezuelan border Friday.
Jose Misael Valero Santana was using a false passport to cross the border but was identified by his fingerprints. He had previously been sentenced in Colombia to 40 and 25 years’ imprisonment for multiple homicide. On four occasions, he skipped trial.
According to the Prosecutor General his paramilitary group operates in the Venezuelan states of Tachira, Merida, Barinas, Lara and Trujillo, El Nuevo Herald reported.
Santana is also believed to be behind an assassination attempt on Congressman Wilson Borja in Bogota in December 2000. The explosions left Borja gravely wounded and killed a woman who sold coffee on the street.