The trial of a police officer who led a criminal gang in Anzoátegui will be redirected to prevent this process from continuing with constitutional defects, explained a judicial source. This process had been taking place before the 5th Trial Court of Anzoátegui, but had to be interrupted pending a new preliminary hearing, where the elements collected by the Public Ministry and that incriminate the accused will be debated once again.
The defendant is identified as Alexander José García Suárez (Chicho Colon), who was being tried along with Ronny Alfredo Calzadilla Suárez and Wilfredo Celestino Tayupo Rivero, accused of the crimes of aggravated extortion, illicit arms trafficking and conspiracy.
The trial that had begun had not progressed beyond three sessions, so the Court of Appeals agreed to annul the first preliminary hearing before continuing with the defects it had been dragging on. The risk of continuing the trial was that, if a decision was made to declare guilty and issue a sentence, it would be annulled, the judicial source explained.
This new preliminary hearing was called for next Friday, February 20, according to a ticket signed by Judge Junnel Valbuena.
García Suárez’s arrest was reported by Latest News in August 2024. On that occasion we explained that the capture of the police officer occurred in the Los Olivos sector, Barcelona, capital of Anzoátegui. In the procedure they seized two 9 mm Taurus PT24/7, PT809E pistols, 65 cartridges of different calibers and a jacket with the initials of the police of the Peñalver municipality (Puerto Píritu), among others.
Precisely, the director of the Police of the Peñalver municipality, Luz Santaella, informed Colonel Wilfredo Torres, head of Conas-Anzoátegui, that Alexander José García Suárez was an active official of that security body with the rank of officer, has been assigned a Taurus PT809E firearm and is on secondment, according to official letter 0092-2024. While he was on secondment, alias Chicho Colón formed a structured organized crime group that dedicated itself to charging vaccinations to oil businessmen based in Anzoátegui, according to investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office MP-140732-24.
In that sense, Chicho Colon used to break into the headquarters of the oil companies and demand a certain sum in dollars from them (their owners) for each contract they were executing in the José Antonio Anzoátegui Petrochemical Complex located between Barcelona and Puerto Píritu (Jose refinery).
Furthermore, Chicho Colón and his group approached the victims in public places and put them in their vehicles carrying firearms to intimidate them and warn them that they should understand each other because he was the one who had ”the car in Jose”, alluding to the aforementioned petrochemical complex. He also demanded amounts in dollars to pay a certain “fee” to other police officials. All this modus operandi executed by Chicho Colón is included in complaints filed by victims before the Judiciary of Anzoátegui, where they went asking for justice, according to testimonies.
As a result of this type of extortion, Chicho Colón’s gang managed to accumulate a total of 37 vehicles identified during the investigation by the Public Ministry. That is why, in April 2025, lawyer Junior Cárdenas, provisional 46th national Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping prosecutor, sent a letter to Conas-Anzoátegui requesting to include the aforementioned batch of 37 vehicles in the Police Information and Investigation System with the status of “requested”.
Through that same letter, prosecutor Cárdenas tells Conas to carry out whatever is necessary “for the search, retention and collection” of the 37 motor vehicles. Until now, the destination of the vehicles is unknown.
Below is the list of vehicles that were seized from the subject Chicho Colón:
