• Between September 2020 and January 2021, twenty nine (29) alleged leaders of criminal structures that affected public safety in Medellín and other towns in the Department of Antioquia were prosecuted. 
  • The Attorney General Barbosa also revealed 100% progress in the clarification of femicides in Antioquia. 
 

The Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, announced in his visit to the municipality of Apartadó, in Urabá Antioqueño, the conclusive results obtained in matters of public safety with the strategy that was drew up last year to combat high impact crimes and delinquency in the Department of Antioquia. 

Accompanied by the Deputy Attorney Martha Mancera, the Delegate Director on Public Safety, Luisa Obando; and the sectional directors of Medellín and Antioquia, the Attorney General revealed the progress made against criminal organizations. 

“In Medellín, we have achieved a 50% reduction in murders in Comuna 13 thanks to the dismantling of gangs such as La Agonía, Betania and La Divisa, with operations that were carried out last year. Between September 2020 and January 2021, we have arrested and prosecuted 29 leaders who also controlled drug trafficking, committed extortion of merchants and drivers, and forced displacement”, stated the Attorney General. 

The Office of the Attorney General filed an indictment before the criminal judges of the Special Circuit of Medellín against 20 alleged members of the criminal organizations La Betania and La Agonía that commit crimes in Comuna 13. 

Among those people charged with aggravated criminal conspiracy are Andrés Felipe Cano Escobar, alias Firu or Firulai, alleged leader of the organization La Agonía, and Diego Armando Mesa, alias Mancuso, alleged coordinator of the criminal structure Betania. 

New indictments 

In the coming days, the Office of the Attorney General will file an indictment against 9 other alleged members of the criminal gang La Divisa, that operate in the aforementioned Comuna in Medellín, and whose leader would be Lucas Acosta Martínez, alias Lucas, who is also deprived of freedom. 

In addition to criminal conspiracy to commit a crime, several of the members of the criminal organization La Divisa will be charged as allegedly responsible for kidnapping offenses, murder and extortion, as independent crimes. 

Two of these kidnappings were committed in August 2020 when two merchants who sold footwear and clothing in that area of ​​Medellín were kidnapped the same day. 

“These actions that we have been carrying out in different parts of the country, in the city of Cali, in Bogotá and other Colombian territories, show that the Office of the Attorney general is offering public security and accompanying citizens”, stressed the Attorney General Barbosa. 

Antioquia 

On the other hand, he pointed out that “Urabá Antioqueño has been prioritized by the Attorney General, the Police, the Navy and the Army. The area of ​​Apartadó, Carepa, Chigorodó, San Juan, San Pedro de Urabá, Necoclí and Urabá Chocoano- Acandí, Capurganá and Sapzuro will have the Office of the Attorney General’s itinerant accompaniment to combat and impact the criminal structures that ravage the region. 

Finally, the Attorney General highlighted that 100% clarification of femicides was reached in the Department of Antioquia, thus guaranteeing the integrity and rights of women as he established in his Strategic Direction. 

When we speak, results follow 

The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out the criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.