The criminal diary of FARC commander “Danilo Garcia” was found by authorities after the bombing that left the guerrilla dead, reported Caracol Radio Friday.
Caracol was given exclusive accounts of the manuscripts that the rebel Jose Epimenio Molina, alias “Danilo Garcia,” kept with recordings of various crimes he committed with the FARC’s 33rd Front operating in the Catatumbo region of the northern Norte de Santander department.
The diary in which Danilo, considered “the right hand of supreme FARC leader alias Timochenko,” kept track and detailed crimes of kidnapping and extortion with “bad handwriting, average spelling and notable disorder” had been hidden in a compartment where the guerrilla was killed after a police bombing.
“We will see if we kill a police member Sunday in Las Mercedes,” wrote Danilo Garcia on August 4 as number 41 in his “criminal blogs.” His notes were written in a graph paper notebook with titles in red and the following text in black ink.
“Results: 2 police dead and 3 hurt. There was landing and strafing. At 10PM again the police were harrassed in the same site. Nothing new,” said the journal in a separate part, accounting for the deaths of Lieutenant Jaime Silva and Patrolman Byron Parra in Sardinata of the Norte de Santander department.
The diary also showed plans for terrorist attacks against the oil and energy infrastructures of the region. “Explosive attack at a river checkpoint in La Gabarra,” wrote Danilo in a note designated number 36, titled “planned,” along with other extreme plans written.
According to authorities that are in the process of evaluating the documents, acts of extorsion and tasks of coordination for drug trafficking are also included in the criminal diary.
According to Caracol Radio, the operation that led to the bombing in which the guerrilla leader died and the ultimate discovery of the journal began 20 months ago. Authorities initiated an investigation of the FARC’s 33rd Front in Catatumbo and found a seemingly insignifant detail that led them to the finding of the camp — the purchase of a hat.
Police identified the hat as one that had been established years ago as guerrilla attire and realized that it and other materials were going to a specific zone. A watchdog group was then formed with members posing as residents of the region. This eventually led them to finding the location of the rebel camp and authorities started a study of places frecuented by Danilo Garcia.
Only once the location of the camp was confirmed did authorities realize the bombing that killed the FARC commander and several of his companions. The diary and its revelations was discovered soon after.
The FARC leader was reportedly in the ranks of the guerrillas for 37 years where most recently he was commander of the 20th and 33rd Fronts. Danilo had been dedicated to perpetrating terrorist acts, providing logistical support to supreme leader “Timochenko” and controlling the business of drug trafficking in the Catatumbo region where he was killed.
There had been nine arrest warrants against Danilo Garcia for crimes of kidnapping, rebellion, conspiracy racketeering and theft, and he was one of the 50 FARC members that was on an extradition list to the U.S.
