Julio César Rivas Rivas allegedly participated in an armed confrontation with FARC dissidents in the rural area of ​​Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca), which caused damage to the civilian population.

The Attorney General’s Office obtained evidence that shows the participation of Julio César Rivas Rivas, alias Conan, the alleged leader of an ELN structure in the so-called Pacifico vallecaucano, in the sale of narcotics and the use of explosive devices against the public force and the civilian population.

In this sense, a prosecutor from the Directorate Specialized in the fight against Criminal Organizations charged him with aggravated criminal conspiracy, terrorism and rebellion. He did not plead guilty to the charges.

Investigations indicate that alias Conan would be engaged in the purchase of cocaine paste in the rural area of ​​Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca), and its subsequent sale to Colombian, Mexican and Panamanian drug trafficking networks. Apparently, he asked 10 million pesos for each kilogram and made the deliveries near Guapi River.

Likewise, he would be the main coordinator of a violent confrontation with the Jaime Martínez structure of the FARC dissidents for the control of illicit incomes in the region. In one of these armed confrontations, in November 2023, he allegedly ordered the launching of explosives, a situation that generated anxiety and damage to the communities that inhabit the Cacolí, San Francisco, El Tigre, Papayal and El Barco villages, in Buenaventura.

Alias ​​Conán was arrested in a joint action by the Prosecutor’s Office, the Navy and the National Police.

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

The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out 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.