The Colombian army arrested on Friday Leivis Enrique Valero Castillo, alias “Carrito”, leader of the Guamocó Resistance Front of the ELN and identified as responsible for the illegal finances of the Darío Ramírez Castro War Front, in an operation carried out in the Mina Nueva village, municipality of Santa Rosa del Sur, in the south of the Bolívar department.
The General Commander of the Military Forces of Colombia described the action as a "strategic blow to the ELN in southern Bolívar" and directly attributed it to cooperation under the framework of the Coalition of the Americas Against the Cartels (A3C), the regional alliance promoted by the Trump administration since March 2026.
The operation, named "Ocaso," was carried out jointly by units of the Army, the Air Force, and the National Police.
During the capture, a pistol, three magazines, 63 cartridges, a hand grenade, two cast gold bars weighing a total of 470 grams, more than 233 million Colombian pesos in cash, two cell phones, and 42 USB drives were seized.
The Army indicated that the cash and gold would be linked to the illegal extraction of minerals, the main source of funding for the Guamocó Resistance Front in that gold-producing region.
"Carrito" was also a trusted man of the alias "Omar" or "Casinga," the main leader of the Darío Ramírez Castro War Front, which increases the strategic significance of the arrest within the structure of the armed group.
The U.S. Southern Command amplified the announcement on its social media, quoting the Department of War, and warned that the outcome "affects the armed, financial, and logistical capabilities of the ELN, weakens their illegal economies, and limits their ability to intimidate the population".
According to Caracol Radio, the capture would also affect the coordination of the ELN with Substructure 4 of the Magdalena Medio Bloc, which extends the operational impact beyond the southern region of Bolívar.
The arrest of "Carrito" occurs just three days after Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella launched the military campaign "Esparta" from Cúcuta, involving approximately 1,200 troops from the Army and Police aimed at combating the ELN and the dissidents of the FARC in Catatumbo and along the border with Venezuela.
The regional context adds an unprecedented element: at the end of October, the Venezuelan army bombed an ELN camp in Apure state, resulting in between 19 and 23 deaths according to the NGO Fundaredes, marking a historical turn for a government that had allowed the armed group to use Venezuelan territory as a rear guard for decades.
Four U.S. officials cited by The New York Times stated that Washington provided intelligence and drones for that Venezuelan operation, although neither the U.S. nor the government of Delcy Rodríguez publicly confirmed it.
The A3C, which by October 2026 had 19 member countries, included the ELN last September in a multilateral list of 24 narcoterrorist organizations.
“We will continue to act against those who seek to challenge the State and subjugate Colombians through terrorism and illicit economies,” warned the Commander General of the Armed Forces when announcing the capture.
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