The Police have arrested a fugitive in Madrid, nicknamed Mono Gerly, claimed by the Colombian authorities as a member of the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last major insurgent group with territorial control in Colombia. Monkey Gerly is wanted by the courts for money laundering and terrorist financing. The agents of the Fugitive group of the National Police arrested him when he was going to enter a business in the center of Madrid that he had opened with his partner.
El Mono Gerly has been part of the Eastern War Front for 20 years, according to police sources. Within this ELN structure, which operates in the Colombian departments of Arauca, Casandre and Boyacá, he occupies the position of “third leader of the Central Command.” He is accused of money laundering and terrorist financing. In addition, he is accused of illicit enrichment and conspiracy to commit crimes through shell companies, banking correspondents, and national and foreign currency exchange houses.
The fugitive allegedly provided the organization with an apparently legal system to launder money from drug trafficking and extortion, in addition to other related crimes. Investigators place him as the one in charge of coordinating the people who provided support to the ELN, managing the laboratories to process the drugs or deliver the cash to launder it by buying farms, land, houses or in exchange offices.
Agents from the Fugitives group of the Central Drug and Organized Crime Unit (Udyco Central) found out that they had settled in a town in Madrid since October, with their wife, although they did not maintain a fixed residence. After a series of surveillance and surveillance, he was finally arrested in a business he owned in the center of the Madrid capital.
Almost as old as the FARC, the ELN was born in 1964, inspired by the Cuban revolution and marked by a deep religious influence. Since January 2025, the peace process with the ELN has been stalled after the suspension of the dialogues by the Colombian Government, something that has allowed the group to reinforce its presence and territorial power. In Arauca, on the border with Venezuela, the ELN has registered a notable strengthening. The group controls border crossings and regulates fuel and food smuggling, combining armed coercion with local administration. They recently attacked the governor of Arauca and kidnapped five soldiers.
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