The population of San Pedro and Yotoco does not forget three farmers with the last name Torres, who were natives of the region and were murdered while working on the La Regina farm, a property that once belonged to a boss of the old ‘north of the Valley cartel’ and which is located invaded by about 500 familiesaccording to the department’s police. This property has been under the administration of the Sociedad de Activos Especiales (SAE).
The Torres were members of the same family. They were murdered on a former drug dealer’s property. Photo:Private archive, social networks
They were humble and hard-working people born in San Pedro, Valle del Cauca. This is how they are described in the El Guayabal area, neighboring La Regina, adding that they only lived in the countryside. But, death surprised them on May 5 when they went to cultivate and harvest the land in La Regina, located in the Mediacanoa district of the municipality of Yotoco, also in the center of Valle del Cauca.
The Torres were members of the same family. They were murdered on a former drug dealer’s property. Photo:Private archive, social networks
The victims
The victims They were from the same family: Sandra, Germán Torres and Fernando Gómez, the latter, known as a member of the Municipal Agrarian Reform Committee (CMRA) of Yotoco. They shot them and also caused wounds with a sharp weapon.
In addition, the three farmers were part of the Lomas de los Planes Peasant Association.
Indepaz record on the case. Photo:Indepaz
A fight in extinct lands of ‘Zarco’, boss of the ‘North Valley Cartel’
Apparently, there was a fight between the aggressors and the victims who would have defended this property, today in the hands of the State and which was part of the millionaire fortune for illicit money of Dennis Gómez Patiño, alias El Zarco.
At the end of the 90s, his record led the National Police and the Army to point him out as one of the men of the ‘North Valley poster’ who took the most advantage of the fall of the Cali cartel to assume vanguard positions in the new structure of the drug trafficking business in the department.
It was in 1996 when the Police, in development of the ‘Operation Cyclone’ of that time, carried out several raids against the economic empire of ‘el Zarco’.
The main raids were led by the Police on the Caribbean coast and in the San Andrés archipelago, where they seized a series of documents that revealed several of their criminal activities.
The security agencies began to intensify their persecution so that he would respond at that time for the crimes of drug trafficking and illicit enrichment. La Regina, according to SAE reports, has a relationship with the boss.
Another property that belonged to ‘Zarco’ is La Gloria, located in the rural area of Cali, which also went under forfeiture and therefore, the State has had the power to assume its ownership with the respective documents, as happened with La Regina. But, the territory is invaded, according to the authorities.
‘Any attempted threat is rejected’
At the National Land Agency (ANT) they maintained the urgent need to “reject any attempt at intimidation, territorial control or silencing of communities through violence“, due to the murder of the three peasants of the Torres family.
In addition, “the Special Assets Society (SAE) regrets the acts of violence recorded on the La Regina farm”, in addition to reporting that “in response to this situation, the SAE participated in the unified command post (PMU) and in the extraordinary security council convened by the local and departmental authorities, with the purpose of carrying out institutional monitoring of the events and advancing the corresponding inter-institutional coordination.”
‘Illegal mining motivates territorial disputes and invasion’
“During the day, the judicial authorities presented preliminary information about what happened, while the municipal administration expressed concerns related to alleged illegal activities that would be taking place in the area of the property,” was part of the report from the SAE. Likewise, the La Regina property is part of an ANT process.
“Investigations and verifications remain ongoing by the competent authorities.
The SAE reported that it socialized the technical and administrative advances related to the process of transferring the property to the ANT, within the framework of the monitoring tables that are carried out with local and national entities,” is part of the SAE report.
“In the development of these spaces, the participating entities reiterated their willingness to advance the necessary steps to strengthen the legal security of the process and facilitate the corresponding procedures.”
The activities that would be putting the farmers where the La Regina farm is located at risk would have to do with drug trafficking and illegal gold mining, which the authorities continue to investigate. This area is immersed in a land dispute amidst armed groups that seek to control this territory as part of drug corridors.
The Institute of Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) indicated that the Ombudsman’s Office launched an alert that “includes Yotoco with a call for permanent observation, pointing out that the imposition of rules and other forms of illegal governance by armed groups “It represents a permanent risk of violation of the rights of the population.”
CAROLINA BOHÓRQUEZ
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Cali
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