Among the defendants, there is a  prosecuted is a coexistence adviser,  a contractor for the Mayor’s Office of Usme who allegedly alerted the organization about the activities and procedures planned by the authorities to avoid blockades and counteract public disorders.

The Attorney General’s Office, in a joint investigative work with the National Police, demonstrated that five of the alleged articulators of the so-called group Primera Línea – Usme were involved in acts of vandalism, attacks against the public force and retention of vehicles of the Integrating Public Transport System (SITP) in the south area of Bogotá.

According to the evidence, these people held meetings between May and December 2021, and fulfilled different roles to promote acts of violence in the ‘Y’ sector and in the so-called ‘Puente de la Dignidad’, in Usme. In that sense, there is technical evidence that indicates that at least four of them would be linked to some of these four facts:

  • June 28, 2021. A SITP bus was blocked and attacked with forceful elements and its driver was forced to take the vehicle to a specific point. Finally, they took control of the vehicle and let it roll against the ESMAD officers.
  • July 7, 2021. An attack against a SITP bus in front of the church in La Andrea neighborhood. The driver and 10 passengers were intimidated to getting off the car. The car was crashed into a sidewalk.
  • July 20, 2021. An attack against a transit patrol that was trying to restore mobility after a blockade. A mayor was beaten with sticks and blunt objects, and his official motorcycle was destroyed.
  • July 28, 2021. SITP bus was attacked with sticks and stones on the main road in Santa Librada neighborhood. The driver was threatened to open the vehicle doors; however, he managed to escape from the scene.

Arrests and prosecution

As a result of search proceedings carried out in Bogotá and Villa Garzón (Putumayo), the Prosecutor’s Office and SIJIN of the Metropolitan Police in Bogotá arrested five alleged perpetrators of the facts.

Among the detainees is Natalia Paola Sánchez Cabrera, a coexistence adviser, a contractor for the Mayor’s Office in Usme who allegedly provided information to the so-called ‘Primera Linea’ about the activities and procedures planned by the authorities to avoid blockades and counteract public disorders.

Also the following people were arrested: Álvaro Javier Silva Cuellar, alias Jalisco; Carlos Andrés Torres Montoya, alias Flaco or Carlos; Faber Alejandro Rincón Salcedo, alias Faber; and Raúl Fernando Mendieta Herrera, alias Raúl or Shrek.

A prosecutor of the Special Directorate against Criminal Organizations charged these five people with criminal conspiracy, disruption of the public transportation system, and violence against a public servant. The defendants did not plead guilty to the charges. Custodial measures were issued against them.

According to the judge´s decision, alias Faber was sent to prison; ‘Flaco’ and ‘Shrek’ will remain deprived of liberty in places of residence with electronic surveillance devices; while alias Jalisco and Natalia Paola Sánchez Cabrera received non-custodial measures.

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

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.