The Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez, confirmed that José Aldinever Sierra Sabogal, known by the aliases of 'Aldinever' or 'el Zarco Aldinever', leader of the 'Segunda Marquetalia', was killed by the ELN in the middle of a confrontation that occurred near the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
The spotlight was on the FARC dissident, after being identified by authorities as one of the masterminds behind the terrorist attack against presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay, who ultimately died after spending two months in the hospital.
What is known about the death of 'Aldinever'?
On August 3, several leaders of the Second Marquetalia, including alias Zarco Aldinever, were traveling to Venezuela's mining belt for a meeting with ELN leaders. Along the way, they were ambushed. Alias Gonzalo Chalo was wounded in the attack, and alias Chicho, the leader of Structure 53, was killed.
The 'Segunda Marquetalia' newspaper revealed in a statement that Aldinever died in the midst of the fighting, and this information was later confirmed by the Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez.
“The ELN murdered ‘Zarco’ Aldinever of the Second Marquetalia region very close to the Colombian-Venezuelan border in a fight over drug trafficking. Apparently, they stole a shipment of cocaine among themselves, and a criminal dispute developed between the cartels,” said the senior official.
Prior to the death of alias"Zarco," on July 18, the Attorney General's Office decided to reactivate the arrest warrants that were in effect against several leaders acting as peace negotiators, and whose arrests had previously been suspended.
“What we did was validate through our intelligence agencies the authenticity of this statement from these criminals,” said the minister.
The head of the security portfolio noted that through other lines of investigation it was “ confirmed that indeed, at least in terms of technical intelligence and other types of intelligence, the murder was perpetrated by the ELN.”
Sánchez explained that this dissident movement"is fractured and has no political objective," which, in his opinion, reinforces the criminal nature of the attack.
He added that the progress in the investigation has been significant: “In the midst of the pain, I believe that justice has made tremendous progress in having captured the material author on the same day, having captured five more in a period of about 25 or 30 days, and having almost all of the aggressor, at least those who planned this assassination at a lower level, already gives us important connections.”
The minister emphasized that the swift capture of the alleged perpetrators has made it possible to reconstruct the chain of command behind the attack and open new lines of investigation into possible links between criminal organizations in different regions of the country.
Following the attack on Uribe Turbay, the Ministry of Defense, together with the National Police, the Ministry of the Interior, and the National Protection Unit, reviewed the security protocols for presidential candidates and political leaders at risk.
“The threat is latent. The important thing here is to assess the risk, identify it carefully, and take measures to mitigate it. The measures depend not only on the person, but also on the place,” said Sánchez.
The head of the Defense Ministry recalled that weeks before the attack on Uribe, there had already been warnings about an alleged plot to assassinate Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán. In that case, early warnings were activated and security measures were reinforced.
Finally, Sánchez stressed that the protection of threatened political figures is a shared responsibility among state institutions and that the investigation into the assassination will continue until all those responsible, including the masterminds, are identified and brought to justice.
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