The Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, visited the Department of Norte de Santander to verify the investigative actions carried out by the institution to combat crime in this area of ​​the country and the strategy against violence against women.

 Investigation into the murder of a prosecutor in Tibú

During his visit, the Attorney General Barbosa held a meeting with the group of investigators and prosecutors who are in charge of the process related to the murder of the sectional prosecutor Esperanza Navas which took place on June 8, in order to clarify the facts.

“We have several hypotheses that are assessed by the technical team and soon, we will show results. Hypotheses would indicate that her death could be caused due to her role as prosecutor; a second one could be related to patterns of murders of women in the municipality of Tibú, which is an anomalous situation, and a third hypothesis has to do with the violent conflict that exists between the ELN and the FARC dissidents, “said the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa in Cucuta.

Investigations about violence against women

The Attorney General´s Office appointed a team of prosecutors belonging to the Gender National Group and of the Sectional Office in Norte de Santander to clarify the facts related to 8 murders of women that took place in Tibú, between April 5 and June 5. The purpose was to characterize the victims, identify common patterns of violence, as well as coincidences related to the injuries, type of weapon and place of facts.

The Attorney General reported that a judge issued an arrest warrant against a leader of the 33 Farc front for the commission of two of these murders. The first case took place on April 14 in the rural area La Libertad and the second one on April 1 in Campo de Yuca.

According to the investigations, this person would also be involved in the death of two policemen in Tibú, on May 7th.

Actions against organized crime, drug trafficking and micro-trafficking

On the other hand, the actions carried out against organized crime in Norte de Santander this year led to the arrest of 122 people allegedly linked to armed groups with influence in that area, such as the ELN, Clan del Golfo, Los Rastrojos, Farc dissidents and Los Pelusos. 84 of them were sent to prison.

Likewise, 30 drug laboratories have been destroyed and 1.2 tons of marijuana and 9.7 of cocaine were seized. Likewise, 21 people were arrested for micro-trafficking.

Finally, through the Argenta strategy, criminal finances were impacted in more than 19 billion by the precautionary measures imposed on 53 assets of criminal organizations, as well as with the seizure of cash and gold.

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.