HomeNewsBriefRastrojos Demonstrate Power with Attack on Venezuela Military Base
BRIEF

Rastrojos Demonstrate Power with Attack on Venezuela Military Base

COLOMBIA / 5 NOV 2018 BY VENEZUELA INVESTIGATIVE UNIT EN

A recent attack by Colombian criminal group, Los Rastrojos, on a military base in Venezuela confirms that the group is gathering strength in the country and will not hold back in its confrontations with Venezuelan security forces in order to safeguard its criminal markets along the border.

On October 30, between 70 and 100 Rastrojos members stormed Venezuelan military base La Mulata, which belongs to Detachment 212 of the Bolivarian National Guard (Guardia Nacional Bolivariana – GNB) and sits just 20 meters from the Colombian border, according to the official version of the event reported in La Nación.

Another report from the daily, El Colombiano, added that the attackers carried two AK-103 rifles, grenades, as well as long-range weapons. They also took the base commander, Sergeant Gerson Hernández Sanguino, as a hostage.

SEE ALSO: Venezuela News and Profiles

Hours before the attack, the GNB had arrested two members of the Rastrojos in Venezuelan territory. And 11 days before that, the Special Action Forces (Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales – FAES) of the national police arrested another six members of the armed group. These arrests were part of an operation to combat gasoline smuggling at the border and came at the order of Freddy Bernal, the new “protector” of the state of Táchira and a key supporter of President Nicolás Maduro’s administration.

These setbacks may have served as the Rastrojos’ motivation for the attack. The criminal group released Sergeant Hernández Sanguino a day later, on October 31, and returned the two AK-103 rifles they had stolen from the GNB, according to news outlet La Opinión.

InSight Crime Analysis

The Venezuelan government implemented a series of actions in 2018, supposedly to curb the illegal activities of the armed groups operating at the border with Colombia. And who is heading up the government’s plan? Bernal – a former congressman and police officer who was added to the US Treasury Department's “Kingpin List” for alleged ties to Colombian guerrilla groups.

Gasoline smuggling may be the most lucrative illegal economy currently at the disposal of criminal groups. It also happens to be the Rastrojos’ primary business. Bernal recently announced that the FAES carried out 12 operations to curb gasoline smuggling in the past two months, arresting more than 50 suspects that include both members and leaders from the Rastrojos.

However, the Rastrojos are not resigned to losing the territory they have conquered in Venezuela. On June 23, suspected members of the gang, toting high-powered weapons, ambushed an FAES commission. They had planned the attack as revenge for the capture of one of their members, identified as alias “El Paraco.”

SEE ALSO: Shifting Criminal Dynamics Signal Violent Future for Colombia-Venezuela Border

The criminal group has now grown to over 120 men with 60 of them armed, several sources along the border have told InSight Crime. The October 30 attack on the Venezuelan military outpost was a show of force, both in terms of the number of men mobilized to execute such a commando-type raid, as well as the caliber of the weapons used.

InSight Crime has also learned that the Rastrojos maintain a base of operations in the Venezuelan village of Boca de Grita, in Táchira state, which borders the Colombian town of Puerto Santander. And sources in the area confirmed that the GNB is allied with the criminal organization in its gasoline smuggling operations.

The focus of FAES and Bernal on this criminal group and the attack on the La Mulata military base are two new episodes in what looks to be an ongoing battle between criminal structures and the Venezuelan military around the lucrative fuel smuggling business along its border.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

AUC / 27 OCT 2021

New documents in the case against accused paramilitary drug lord Guillermo León Acevedo, alias “Memo Fantasma,” reveal that former top…

COCAINE / 28 FEB 2023

The movie Cocaine Bear has a surprising connection to Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel, especially how they trafficked drugs…

BRAZIL / 15 DEC 2021

A recent study of credit card cloning around the world revealed some startling disparities in the risks customers face across…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

All Eyes on Ecuador

2 JUN 2023

Our coverage of organized crime in Ecuador continues to be a valuable resource for international and local news outlets. Internationally, Reuters cited our 2022 Homicide Round-Up,…

WORK WITH US

Open Position: Social Media and Engagement Strategist

27 MAY 2023

InSight Crime is looking for a Social Media and Engagement Strategist who will be focused on maintaining and improving InSight Crime’s reputation and interaction with its audiences through publishing activities…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.