A prominent drug trafficker and top associate of the neo-paramilitary group “Los Urabeños” on Tuesday was captured in the central Colombian department of Meta.
Police claimed that “Chicho” — the alias of Hector Mario Urdinola — was one of the leading associates of Los Urabeños in Valle del Cauca, where the neo-paramilitary organization is locked into a deadly war against the drug-trafficking group “Los Rastrojos.”
According to newspaper El Tiempo, Chicho was an important commander in the ongoing gang war in Colombia’s third most populous city, Cali and was also suspected to have been involved in a massacre of ten presumed drug traffickers in the southwestern port city of Buenaventura.
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Chicho is the nephew of Ivan Urdinola, a former leader of the Norte del Valle cartel, an extinct organization previously active in Valle del Cauca, according to newspaper El Pais.
According to the police, the alleged drug trafficker was one of the leaders of the local “Los Machos” gang, which in 2011 initiated an alliance with Los Urabeños to fight their common enemy, Los Rastrojos, in southwestern Colombia.
