Posts tagged alias Sebastian
Envigado Massacre Gunmen Executed
0559 days
by Tom Germain
in News
Three weeks ago, I reported the details of the massacre in the Guru bar in Envigado, a suburb to the south of Medellin. Two gunmen had stood before the crowded venue and opened fire, killing eight patrons and leaving 13 wounded (original reports spoke of 26 injured). According to survivors, both assassins had a gun in each hand, firing them simultaneously as if in a Hollywood film. Police later confirmed that the perpetrators had used high caliber “police killer” ammunition, which can traverse bulletproof jackets. The latest news is that the killers themselves were murdered in the gritty La Sebastiana neighborhood of Envigado, only two days after the Guru shooting.
That the gunmen were eliminated is nothing surprising in the world of Colombian organized crime. In this particular case, it may have been their own bosses who ordered them disposed of, as the hit they had been sent on was botched: the intended victim, known by the nickname of El Gordo, had escaped unharmed and the large number of innocent victims were mowed down by their bullets, which has drawn heat from the Colombian government, promising to clamp down on gangs in the Medellin area. El Gordo, a member of alias Sebastian’s organization, apparently threw himself on the floor and crawled to safety among tables as bullets rained into the Guru bar.
Local reports now say that the Guru bar incident was part of a string of retaliatory murders following the interception of a cocaine shipment by authorities in the United States. The cocaine in question is said to have been the property of old Pablo Escobar era traffickers which Colombian intelligence had lost track of over the years. It was one of these traffickers, Pacho Correa, who ordered the guru hit to avenge the execution of his son for his role in the loss of the cargo. Previously, the Colombian press had said the massacre was the result of a feud between rival gang bosses, Sebastian and Valenciano.
Interestingly, the Guru bar’s owner has changed its name in an attempt to distance it from the incident, but has not closed the business. The federal government has promised to send extra police officers to patrol the streets of Envigado, but if you stroll the city’s streets now, they are as devoid of any police presence as ever! The ongoing war between major drug trafficking gangs in this area has not ended, so if you happen to be in any bar or restaurant, be mindful of who’s sitting at the next table and of any high cylinder motorcycle with two men on it that might pull up. Note that Medellin and several communities in the Aburra valley have laws prohibiting two males from riding the same motorcycle, but this seems to not have deterred assassins from using their favorite mode of transportation.
* Sebastian, aka Erick Vargas, is in prison, awaiting extradition to the USA.
Massacre in Envigado: Return to Bad Old Days?
3579 days
by Tom Germain
in News
Last Friday, just before 2 am, heavily armed “sicarios” (assassins), fired into a crowd at a bar in the Guanteros entertainment district of normally peaceful Envigado, a suburb of Medellin. The toll was eight dead and 23 wounded. None of the fatal victims had a criminal record and one was a US citizen who had recently moved to the area. Two off duty policemen were in the Guru bar at the time and were injured while returning fire. The perpetrators escaped from the scene on a high cylinder motorcycle, the preferred mode of transportation for killers in Colombia. Witnesses claim that the motorcycle was followed by a car with several male occupants, who may have been the enforcers, those ensuring that the job was done.
Shootings with more than one victim aren’t unusual in the Medellin area, where a war raging between drug trafficking gangs has pushed the numbers for the metropolitan area to over 2,000 fatalities in 2009 and well over 1,000 so far this year. Such figures are a stark reminder of the days when the cartels ruled Colombia and morgues were overflowing with corpses of young men. While recent statistics are still far from the record levels reached during that epoch, the rising tally is worrisome, reversing the previous trend which saw falling numbers, treading around 800 in 2007, a total comparable to any major American city.
What’s unusual about the Envigado massacre is the indiscriminate way in which the killers sprayed the bar with bullets, something not seen since the days of Pablo Escobar in this city, which had the dubious honor of being the drug kingpin‘s central during the 80’s. According to police, the intended target, a drug trafficker wanted by the law, escaped the scene unharmed and has apparently voluntarily surrendered to the police, seeking protection from those who wish him dead. Police say the Envigado shooting was part of the ongoing territorial war between “Sebastian” and “Valenciano”, leaders of two major gangs. US and Colombian authorities are offering multimillion dollar ransoms for their capture.
The incident has provoked a strong reaction from the president, Alvaro Uribe, who promised immediate action to hunt down members of criminal gangs in Colombia, particularly in the Medellin area.
Colombian Peso Exchange Rate
