Recently captured drug lord “El Loco Barrera” stole at least 3,385 acres of land, according to claims by Colombian families.
The Land Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture has thus far received thousands of acres of land claims located primarily in the central department of Meta, reported newspaper El Tiempo on Thursday.
The land was allegedly robbed by Loco Barrera with help from his associated criminal gangs and the paramilitary group ERPAC.
The Director of the Land Unit, Ricardo Sabogal, told El Tiempo that the Unit has been approached by five different families to date, “but surely there are more.” The reported land claims so far are divided between the municipalities Acacías with 2,585 acres, Villavicencio with 783 acres, and Vista Hermosa with 17 acres.
The arrested Daniel El Loco Barrera, “the last of the big capos,” has been involved in Colombia’s drug trafficking since the 1980s and became a top player in the early 1990s after the Medellin and Cali cartels fell. He was recently arrested in Venezuela while making a phone call and awaits indictment.
