Venezuela has arrested one of Colombia’s most wanted drug lords and senior commander of demobilized paramilitary organization AUC, “Martin Llanos,” together with his brother, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed Monday.
According to the newspaper, Llanos, whose real name is Hector Buitrago, was arrested only hours after Venezuelan authorities announced the arrest of the former AUC commander’s younger brother, alias “Caballo.”
El Tiempo, the newspaper that broke the news, did not reveal the location where the former AUC commander was apprehended.
The family of Martin Llanos were commanders and founding members of paramilitary group the ACC, a group of the now-demobilized paramilitary umbrella organization AUC. The family refused to participate in the Colombian government’s demobilization process, in which some paramilitaries were offered lesser sentences for voluntarily disbanding.
The father and a cousin of Martin Llanos were captured since the AUC demobilization, while the ex-AUC commander continued to control drug and arms trafficking routes from Colombia’s eastern plains to Venezuela competing with other groups like the FARC, ELN and ERPAC.