Venezuelan Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos holds a press conference to provide details about the end of the infamous Venezuelan criminal Carlos Enrique Gómez Rodríguez, alias El Conejo, March 24, 2023. Photo: Venezolana de Televisión.
Terrorist Carlos Enrique Gómez Rodríguez, alias El Conejo, one of the most wanted criminals in Venezuela and implicated in various crimes such as terrorism, homicides, extortion and kidnapping, was killed in operation Jabali carried out by the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB). This was reported by Venezuelan Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos on Thursday, March 23. He further reported that 35 more members of his criminal gang were arrested, while 16 firearms, 3,366 cartridges, 41 portable radios, one telescope, seven grenades, nine vehicles, explosives, military gear and 14 motorcycles were seized.
Ceballos stated that Operation Jabalí, in which different security agencies and the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) participated, ended in the town of Irapa, Sucre state, near Trinidad and Tobago, after several weeks that involved localization, search and recognition maneuvers. In February 2022, another criminal leader and El Conejo’s partner in crime, Carlos Luis Revette, alias El Coqui, was killed in a similar operation by security forces.
According to Ceballos, these criminal gangs are backed and funded from abroad, from where the criminals receive weapons and logistic gear to create chaos in the country and “try to destabilize peace and tranquility.” El Conejo was the leader of the organized criminal gang Tren de Aragua.
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Minister Ceballos added that search operations for the rest of the members of the criminal gang will continue in the states of Aragua, Carabobo, and Sucre.
A few days ago, during the anti-corruption operations carried out by the Venezuelan government, Pedro Hernández, mayor of Santos Michelena municipality (Las Tejerías) of Aragua state was arrested for allegations of having ties with El Conejo. At that time, the National Anti-Corruption Police revealed that the Santos Michelena municipality was the operational base for the criminal gang Tren de Aragua. According to local news oultets, Hernández must be the source of the information that helped the security forces to find out the hideout of El Conejo.
Details of the operation
According to Últimas Noticias, around 60 commandos from the Bolivarian National Police (PNB), the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), the Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigations Corps (CICPC) and the National Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Command (CONAS) participated in the operation.
The multidisciplinary group was formed on February 5, the day on which 12 men carrying rifles simultaneously attacked the headquarters of CICPC, PNB, and the Presidential Command Post in Las Tejerías, Aragua. The attackers fled in two Hilux trucks to Covalongo, between La Colonia Tovar and Punta de Paria, in the bordering areas of Aragua and La Guaira states.
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A few days after that attack in Las Tejerías, the security group arrived at the site and confronted El Conejo’s gang. On that occasion, El Conejo fled to Monte Oscuro, between the Henry Pittier and Macarao national parks, where he also had another hideout.
Last week, on March 17, a new stage of Operation Jabalí began, based on information provided by Pedro Hernández, mayor of Las Tejerías, arrested that day by the National Anti-Corruption Police.
On Monday, March 20, El Conejo fled in a boat, with 35 armed men, from Chuao (Aragua) to Irapa (Sucre) in the east of Venezuela. He was chased by 40 SEBIN and PNB commandos for more than 6 hours. When the commandos arrived in Irapa, they found that El Conejo and his men were hiding in an abandoned house in Cerro Colorado, Irapa, from where they fired frantically at the police officers.
At dawn on Thursday the fighting intensified. The criminals fled from the house, and the officers entered. On the way, they found the corpse of El Conejo, dressed in jeans and a black flannel shirt, and a rifle beside him.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
