The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) agrees with the extradition process initiated by Venezuela so that Colombia can hand over José Antonio Márquez Morales (El Caracas), leader of a criminal gang that operates in Zulia.
The subject was arrested on October 1 in Valledupar, department of Cesar, Colombia. The Colombian police presented him as a piece that led “terrorist actions with explosives, homicides, firearms trafficking and territorial control on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.”
Upon learning of his arrest in Colombia, the Public Ministry, through the 69th National Prosecutor’s Office with full jurisdiction, requested to begin the extradition process. To this end, he filed a document before the 3rd Special Court with jurisdiction over crimes associated with terrorism, where he recounts the details of the last attack perpetrated by members of the El Caracas gang against a commercial establishment located in the state of Zulia.
This is the attack on Samba Latino Supermarkets, located on 15 Delicias Avenue, Maracaibo (Zulia), an event that occurred on February 18, 2023.
A subject, later identified as Junior Andrés Báez, arrived at the aforementioned site, who shot at the cashiers and customers present, wounding six people. He then fled on a motorcycle after leaving a pamphlet where El Caracas assumes responsibility for the incident. When that event occurred, the Third Special Anti-Terrorist Court issued an arrest warrant against Márquez Morales for the alleged commission of the crimes of arms and ammunition trafficking, obstruction of freedom of commerce, terrorism, aggravated association, aggravated extortion and intentional homicide qualified for futile and ignoble reasons.
To argue the request for that arrest warrant, the Public Ministry described the criminal gang founded by El Caracas as “one of the organized criminal groups with the greatest negative impact on the country.” Some of the members of this criminal structure have been arrested by security agencies and their detention site has been set at the Francisco Delgado Rosales Penitentiary Center, former El Marite Retention Center (Maracaibo). But from there they continue to coordinate attacks against businesses, according to investigations by the National Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Command (Conas).
The magistrates confirmed that the extradition process meets the requirements established in Venezuelan laws and the treaties signed by Venezuela and Colombia. For this reason, they declared the extradition admissible “because there are sufficient factual and legal reasons for (Márquez Morales) to be tried in Venezuelan territory…”, as read in sentence 663 written by Judge Elsa Gómez and validated by her colleagues from the Criminal Chamber, Carmen Marisela Castro and Maikel Moreno.
