Authorities capture the alleged second-in-command of a breakaway group of “Los Paisas” in Antioquia, considered to be leading their alliance with narco-traffickers “Los Rastrojos” in an ongoing territorial war with “Los Urabeños,” El Colombiano reported Monday.
Oscar Mauricio Galvis, alias “Pantera,” is apparently the right hand man of Angel de Jesus Pacheco, alias “Sebastian,” who broke with the core “Los Paisas” organization in 2010, taking hundreds of armed men along with him.
Both men are former mid-level paramilitaries who rose to prominence following the demobilizations or extraditions of many of their leaders.
Pantera was caught over the weekend in Puerto Claver, in the El Bagre municipality of Antioquia, after an operation by national authorities that left him wounded in the chest.
Police commander in the region General Luis Alberto Perez stated that Pantera “is responsible for 60% of the homicides that have occurred so far this year in the Bajo Cauca, Antioquia.”
He is also believed to have been the mastermind behind the massacre of 11 people in the village of Nechi Cuturu, Antioquia, in March.
Perez further stated that Pantera is presumed to have had links with the FARC‘s 18th Front in order to exchange weapons for drugs.
Pantera was originally captured in June 2010 but was released after a procedural error.