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Soldados patrullan una cresta montañosa del norte de Antioquia al amanecer sobre un valle con un pueblo
Imagen alusiva a las operaciones militares en el norte de Antioquia. · Imagen generada para EPM

Yarumal operation seeks to curb extortion and criminal expansion

Two alleged members of an armed structure died in fighting in the village of Cedeño, in Yarumal, and among them would be alias ‘El Flaco’, an alleged…

--- The context --- In northern Antioquia, rural communities and small producers live under pressure from armed structures disputing territory and illicit economies, while extortion becomes a daily threat for those who work, raise livestock and trade across the region's countryside and small towns. A criminal alliance between the Farc dissidents of the faction led by alias ‘Calarcá’ and the Clan del Golfo would be pushing its expansion from Briceño toward Yarumal to dispute the illegal exploitation of mining deposits near the border with Anorí. --- The facts --- Amid the military operations to halt that expansion, two alleged members died in fighting with National Army troops in rural Yarumal, and among the dead would be alias ‘El Flaco’, an alleged ringleader and trusted man of alias ‘Primo Gay’. The fighting took place in the village of Cedeño, where troops from the Gaula Militar Valle de Aburrá, of the Fourth Brigade, fought alleged members of the GAOr Estructura 36, which would hold a criminal alliance with the Clan del Golfo. The clash left two dead in the course of military operations, and troops seized two rifles, 710 cartridges, six magazines, cell phones, a USB memory stick and quartermaster material, in addition to locating and destroying explosive material in the area. --- The positions --- According to military intelligence information, alias ‘El Flaco’ would be leading a mobile armed commission, and authorities say the expansion plan would have been ordered by alias ‘Primo Gay’, who would have sent him to advance on Yarumal. Authorities attribute to that alleged ringleader the coordination of alleged extortion against merchants, livestock farmers, business owners and miners, and the operation also involved the Colombian Air Force, the Antioquia Police SIJÍN unit, the Fiscalía 75 DECOC office and the CTI GICCO. --- What remains unknown --- The identity of the second person killed is not yet known, nor are details about arrests, injuries or effects on the civilian population in the village of Cedeño, and it remains unclear what the seized material will reveal about the alleged structure. --- Unanswered questions --- Will it be officially confirmed that alias ‘El Flaco’ is among the two dead reported in the operation?, will this result manage to halt the expansion from Briceño toward Yarumal in a sustained way?, and what protection will merchants, livestock farmers, business owners and miners receive against the alleged extortion? --- EPM analysis --- The blow strikes at the logistics of the alleged commission, because losing rifles, ammunition and explosives reduces its capacity to sustain an armed presence along the corridor, although any lasting effect will depend on the institutional presence remaining alongside the communities. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the value of this operation will be measured less by the casualty report than by the security recovered by communities in northern Antioquia, pressed by the extortion attributed to this structure. If the State's presence endures in Yarumal and near Anorí, the blow to the alleged alliance will open real breathing room; if it does not, other actors will dispute the vacuum left behind along the villages and roads of the area, for families who today ask only to live and work in peace.
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