These people, apparently, demanded payments between 5 and 12 million COP from businessmen, farmers and merchants in exchange for not being considered military targets.
The investigative activities of the Attorney General’s Office allowed the prosecution of seven alleged members of the so-called Jorge Suárez Briceño bloc of Farc dissidents, who would be involved in extortions in Baraya, Colombia, Tello, Neiva, Algeciras and Rivera (Huila).
A prosecutor charged them with conspiracy to commit crimes for extortion purposes, aggravated extortion; and manufacture, trafficking, possession of firearms, accessories, parts or ammunition. They did not plead guilty to the charges.
The people involved are: Arbey Cardozo García, Dora Enith Morales Rodríguez, Uvider Caicedo Gutiérrez, Jorge Alberto Hernández, Wilson Javier Hernández Patiño, Angie Xiomara Cruz Segura and Omar Esneider Cruz Segura. A judge imposed a prison sentence.
According to the investigations, the defendants would be responsible for the economic demands on more than ten victims who were summoned by means of pamphlets in rural areas of Tello, Colombia and Algeciras (Huila). When they arrived at the place, other members of the illegal armed group demanded high sums of money so as not to be considered military targets.
Judicial police work showed that these people fulfilled specific roles within the organization such as the delivery of the pamphlets, the logistics when taking the victims to the place where they were summoned and the intimidation of victims with firearms to force them to hold the meetings.
The defendants were arrested by Gaula of the National Police in home searches carried out in Neiva, La Plata and rural area of El Dorado (Huila); and Planadas (Tolima). During the operations, pamphlets related to dissidents were seized.
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.