Strategy against homicides 

The Territorial approach defined by the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, allowed to arrest the alleged material author of the crime of Juana María Perea Plata, which took place in Nuquí (Chocó). Another person involved in the facts will be charged. 

In a joint operation between the Office of the Attorney General, the National Police and the Navy, Néstor Leonel Lozano Muriel, alias Tigre or Guachón, was arrested for being the alleged responsible for the murder of the environmentalist Juana María Perea Plata 

In a week of investigations, the Office of the Attorney General clarified the crime of the environmentalist Juana María Perea Plata, which took place on October 29 in Nuquí (Chocó). 

From the moment when the death of the Colombian-Spanish citizen was reported, the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, assigned prosecutors, investigators and experts, who traveled to the scene of the events to achieve the prompt identification of the offenders.  

The team that was  made up of personnel from the Special Directorate against Human Rights Violations, the CTI and the Sijin Chocó, with support of the Internal Working Group for Search, Identification of Disappeared People (Grupo Interno de Trabajo de Búsqueda, Identificación y Entrega de Personas Desaparecidas Grube), the Directorate for Transitional Justice and a commission of Legal Medicine, assumed the verifications, forensic inspections and the collection of evidence.  

This coordination of capacities made it possible to establish that armed men arrived at the victim’s house in the rural area of Termales, they took her against her will in a boat that crossed the Pacific to Nuquí river and in a sector known as Coquí, they shot her. The corpse of the environmentalist was thrown into the waters and, later, was located by the community.  

Her murder was allegedly ordered by leaders of the so-called ‘Clan del Golfo’ . She allegedly asked them to leave the region to reactivate ecotourism projects. 

Those involved in the criminal action were identified. The alleged perpetrator, Néstor Leonel Lozano Muriel, was arrested in a joint operation carried out by investigators of the Office of the Attorney General, the National Police and the National Navy in Nuquí (Chocó). 

The arrested person known as ‘Tigre’ or ‘Guachón’, alleged leader of an urban structure of ‘Clan Golfo’, would be the one who used the firearm and shot Juana María Perea Plata. This man was brought before a judge. In the hearings*, a prosecutor from the Special Directorate against Human Rights Violations charged him with aggravated homicide and criminal conspiracy. 

On the other hand, a person who was arrested on October 31 for a different process related to criminal conspiracy, will be summoned to appear in a hearing for these facts and the charges that will be brought will be the same. The evidence indicates that she was the person in charge of piloting the boat in which the crime took place.  

Clarification route 

On November 1, the Internal Working Group Grube exhumed the victim´s corpse who had been buried in the municipal cemetery of Nuquí. Immediately, the Forensic  commission carried out the autopsy and forensic studies that made it possible to establish the cause of death and have clues about what happened. Simultaneously, the investigators were making progress in the collection of evidence. 

On November 5, the boat that would have been used to transport the environmental leader was seized. The inspections made to the boat showed traces of human blood, which would correspond to the victim. 

On November 6, the Office of the Attorney General and the Sijin of the Chocó Police carried out search warrants on three premises in Nuquí. As a result of the proceeding, electronic equipment and other relevant evidence were obtained. 

On November 7, a joint operation between the Attorney General’s Office, the National Police and the National Navy was carried out and Néstor Leonel Lozano Muriel, alias Tigre or Guachón, was arrested. 

Investigative actions will continue to locate other people who are linked to the murder of Juana María Perea Plata. 

Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.  

*Several  kinds  of  hearings  held  in  one  hearing  (known as audiencias concentradas in Spanish)