Venezuela arrests 'Aguilas Negras commander'
Sunday, 23 January 2011 11:29 Adriaan Alsema
Venezuela on Sunday claimed it arrested the leader of Colombian neo-paramilitary group "Aguilas Negras" in the northwestern city of Maracaibo.
According to Interior Minister Tarek El Aissami, the arrested suspect is Victor Gonzalez Sierra, leader of the feared Aguilas Negras and wanted in Colombia for "various homicides."
"This is a heavy blow to criminal drug trafficking organizations and this group trying to use our territory to escape justice of other governments," Venezuelan state radio quoted the minister as saying.
The 32-year old Gonzalez Sierra was arrested Maracaibo, Venezuela's second largest city and located near the Colombian border.
According to El Aissami, the alleged neo-paramilitary head will be extradited to Colombia in the next few days.
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/13876-venezuela-arrests-aguilas-negras-commander.htmlAguilas Negras
The Aguilas Negras, or Black Eagles, emerged from the failures of the demobilization process between 2004 and 2006, which aimed to disarm the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia – AUC). They are a non-cohesive group dedicated to protecting the economic interests of former mid-level paramilitary commanders scattered across Colombia.
At times, Aguilas Negras was the generic term used by the government to describe the many fragments of ex-paramilitaries still trafficking drugs across Colombia. Often, the paramilitary successors who have continued threatening or murdering journalists, lawyers and human rights activists have done so using the Aguilas Negras name. This political bent, along with their lack of a central leadership, distinguishes them in part from the other criminal bands operating in Colombia
http://insightcrime.org/criminal-groups/colombia/aguilas-negras/item/341-the-aguilas-negras