Three individuals were arrested for allegedly participating in the forced recruitment of at least 40 minors in Meta, Guaviare, Vaupés, Arauca, and Cauca.
The Attorney General’s Office successfully prosecuted three alleged members of a cell of Armando Ríos or E1 front of FARC dissidents, who were allegedly involved in the recruitment of minors from indigenous communities in five departments across the country.
The people involved are José Lisandro Díaz Isaza, alias Liso; Jhonatan Estiven Amaya Castillo, alias Tío; and Jhon Durango Reyes, alias Toribio, who were charged with aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime, illegal recruitment; and Manufacturing, trafficking, and possession of weapons, restricted-use ammunition, ammunition for the exclusive use of the Security Forces, or explosives.
The defendants did not plead guilty to the charges and, according to a judge’s decision, they were sentenced to prison.
The investigation, led by the Specialized Directorate against Organized Crime, established that alias Tío was the leader of the militia cell and responsible for selecting the victims, prioritizing highly vulnerable Indigenous minors, who were apparently identified in hard-to-reach educational institutions.
Alias Tío allegedly used the facade of a student and lured victims through deception, offering them gifts and money, and even intimidating and inducing them to join the organization. Then he handed them over to other members to recruit them into the so-called schools of the illegal armed group.
The minors were subsequently assigned to armed groups and exploited in armed activities or confrontations with law enforcement or rival groups.
Alias Toribio, allegedly facilitated the fluvial transportation of the victims from boarding schools and indigenous communities to the armed group’s camps.
The Office of the Attorney General documented at least 40 cases in which victims from Meta, Guaviare, Vaupés, Arauca, and Cauca were allegedly recruited by the defendants.
The men were arrested in search warrants operations conducted in Carurú (Vaupés), coordinated by the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI), Sijin – National Police, the 31st Brigade of the National Army, and the Colombian Aerospace Force.
It should be highlighted that during the operations, four cell phones were seized, which would be essential for the analysis of information related to the criminal organization.
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.