Colombian National Police special operations troops killed Naín Andrés Pérez Toncel, known by the alias “Bendito Menor,” along with his partner Rosa Angélica Tarazona, alias “La Bebecita,” during a raid last Thursday in the La Guajira department, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast near the border with Venezuela.
Pérez Toncel was listed among the ten most-wanted criminals in Colombia and led the Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra, an armed group tied to Colombia’s long history of paramilitary organizations. The couple was found in a house in the Los Olivos neighborhood of Riohacha, the third property that helicopter-borne police units had searched that day as part of an operation code-named “Centinela de la Patria” (“Guardian of the Homeland”).
According to an officer from the Dijín, the Colombian police’s criminal investigation and intelligence division, who spoke to El Tiempo’s investigative unit, the operation was originally set to launch in a rural indigenous community in the Alta Guajira area, in the municipality of Uribia. However, information from an informant, combined with a decoy operation, prompted officers to redirect the raid to Riohacha instead.
Authorities also revealed that bodyguards protecting the cartel leader had fragmentation grenades ready for use during the confrontation. The entire operation was documented through photos and video footage.
Read the full investigation, including exclusive images from the raid, on El Tiempo’s website.
Source: Las 8 fotos clave de la cacería a 'Bendito Menor' y a 'La Bebecita'; habla oficial de inteligencia (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: East Riding Archives, CC0 1.0 (via Openverse).