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Mataje does not shake off the influence of Guacho
Posted On 17 Aug 2018
Ecuadornews:
Tension returned to Mataje, parish of San Lorenzo de Esmeraldas canton. In the sector, which still does not return normal, four sailors were murdered and kidnapped a team of newspaper El Comercio, on March 20 and 26 respectively.
On Wednesday at 17:30 a military and police operation in the sector of the La Campanita de Mataje farm (20 meters from Colombia), led by the Prosecutor’s Office, allowed the capture of Jayro Reasco. The Esmeraldeño, 53, is considered a man of trust by Walther Arízala, alias Guacho, leader of the narcoterrorist front Óliver Sinisterra.
That front was awarded at least 10 attacks registered in parishes of San Lorenzo, from January to April of this year. Among them, the murder of the four sailors, the kidnapping and murder of Javier Ortega, Efraín Segarra and Paúl Rivas; by Óscar Villacís and Katty Velasco; besides the car bomb attack on the San Lorenzo detachment.
The military and police intelligence work gave an account of its presence in the sector and tactical groups were mobilized. He tried to flee, but was reached within a few meters, said Juan Jaramillo, police commander of Zone 1.
The police presume that he was in charge of the fluvial mobilization of Guacho on the border between Ecuador and Colombia. But it is not the only indication. He is one of 28 processed for delinquency organized by the attack to the barracks of San Lorenzo on January 27. The trial preparatory hearing will be held on September 13 at 09:30.
Criminal activities also extended to the control of drug exits through the Pacific corridor to Central America.
This is not the first time that the Hacienda La Campanita has come to light. In 2008 its existence was evidenced after the operation ‘Hurricane of the Border’, in which 4.7 tons of cocaine were confiscated from the Jefferson brothers, Miguel and Édison Ostaiza, linked to the Sinaloa cartel.
La Campanita can be accessed by helicopter or boat, avoiding the San Antonio, del Viento and La Caída canals, which overlook the Mataje River.
But not he is not the only objective. The catch of Guacho is among the priorities. The Colombian authorities would have informed Ecuador that for a week and a half they would have been in Ecuadorian territory, which they had escaped from the operations of the Hercules Task Force. In recent days, a first attempt to capture it on an island in the sector was recorded, with the displacement of helicopters, boats and Supertucan planes.
The entrance to Mataje is still under military and police control. In two checkpoints it is checked who enters and who leaves. The locals have the free way presenting identifications. For the doctors who provide care in areas close to Mataje, there is military and police custody (four policemen and 15 soldiers). And for the press, access is restricted due to security issues, said EXPRESO at the naval checkpoint. The tension continues despite the fact that normalcy is returning to the area with the intervention of the Joint Task Force, commanded by General Gustavo Acosta.
That group in almost two months fulfilled 1,603 operations. Of these, 995 were terrestrial under the control of the Armed Forces. There were 558 actions of control of arms, ammunition and explosives and 60 of support to state institutions. These operations allowed, among other things, to seize 4,055 gallons of fuel, 3,000 cartridges for rifles and 710 cans of chemical precursors. Nine people were arrested and 4 kg of base paste seized, said Col. Gonzalo Reyes, of the Task Force. (I)
