Three people were found murdered in an elevator in Medellin, Antioquia.
Authorities believe their deaths are linked to the fight for control of
the ‘Office of Envigado’, Colombia’s third most powerful drug cartel.
The victims, Jaime Andrés ‘El
Negro Estrella’ Jaramillo Hernández, Juan Carlos ‘El Guayabo’ Betancourt Restrepo and Lady
Marcela Zapata Bustamante were found early Sunday morning in the elevator of an apartment building in the exclusive suburb Sabaneta. They were shot to death by hit men using a 5.56 caliber machine gun equipped with a silencer.
Medellin Police Commissioner, general Dagoberto García, said that ‘El
Negro Estrella’ controlled drug trafficking in La Estrella, a zone in Medellin, while ‘El Guayabo’ controlled drug trafficking in the Itagui zone.
‘El Negro Estrella’ and ‘Guayabo’ were under investigation for their links to ‘Valenciano’, a drug trafficker believed to be fighting fellow trafficker ‘Sebastián’ for control of the ‘Office of Envigado’.
Many leaders of the ‘Office of Envigado’, a paramilitary group and drug trafficking organization, have been arrested recently. Medellin has seen an increase in murders as rival paramilitary militias attempt to take control
over certain parts of the city.
