An attack that went unnoticed last Friday, September 8, in broad daylight in Fusagasugá (Cundinamarca), becomes a new chapter in the so-called “Green War” that shook the country and is apparently being relaunched. The victim of the attack, saved by a “miracle”, is the wife of Maximiliano Cañón Castellanos, social leader and businessman in the emerald sector in Boyacá, who was murdered on the afternoon of June 3, 2022, in the exclusive sector of the Parque de la 93 to the north from Bogota.
The cruelty of the chosen war stripped her of all humanity and prevented her from even saying goodbye to her husband, forcing her to go into hiding again, knowing that the assassins had been hired to “take away two dead people.” In dialogue with SEMANA, Jackie recounted the events and, with a broken voice, recalled that he knows that his life and that of his family members are in danger.
The traces of dozens of bullets left on the windshield, trunk, doors and tires of a Model 96 vehicle are reliable evidence of this. “They want to kill me, don’t let them kill me,” he said again and again to the paramedics and firefighters who arrived at his home after he had evaded the hitmen thanks to his skill behind the wheel and the determination that was on the way. on a motorcycle.
A person familiar with the case reported that the same authorities confirmed the seriousness of the situation, the presence of threats, suspicious movements, exchanges of messages and plans to carry out assassinations.
The sole purpose of these threats and attacks was to capture and completely control La Pita, one of the most prosperous emerald mines between Muzo and Coscuez in the Maripi mining district in Boyacá, which was the epicenter of a war with multiple fronts, many complications and , as if it were a tragic novel, enemies who have now joined forces to destroy their owners.
The shadow behind it would be none other than that of Pedro Nel Rincón Castillo, the famous Pedro Orejas, who, despite spending several years in a US prison and answering for drug trafficking crimes, continues to give orders to expand his power emerald mines and revenge for the Death of his son, registered in November 2013, the same death that he attributes to Maximiliano Cañón, who was his partner but also the person who reported him to the authorities for ties to groups outside the law.
It was Orejas himself who, in a public square, threatened to murder his former partner for everything he had done to him. To prove he was serious, they point out that he murdered one of Maximiliano’s trusted associates in cold blood and “fired his entire revolver,” sowing fear and anxiety and forcing him to hide with his wife as she the next ones would fall in this war.
Four years after this crime – for which Pedro Orejas was captured and sentenced to 20 years in prison – several contract killers broke out in Guatemala, Boyacá and Bogotá, mainly against those who had once been partners. Among these, the cases of Yesid Nieto, Pedro Guerrero and Jorge Enrique Gómez stand out.
And the “excessive ambition for the title” – as one person familiar with the case described it – has united former enemies and divided the family. For example, the fact that Maximiliano Cañón and Pedro Orejas are, in addition to brothers-in-law, also comrades, a relationship that is very strong in the Boyacá department. “They considered each other blood brothers.”
This intensity in the relationship between comrades has also led to an intensification of the war. Since the attack from which Ms. Jackie was rescued, there are many unanswered questions and several questions that need to be clarified, especially due to the fact that the woman had returned to the country for a few days to attend to some personal matters care, and only told her family.
The hitmen knew that the woman was on her way to her house and only had two ways to get there. They also had confidential information, including the license plate number and the fact that she was unaccompanied. “There are very bad people,” Ms. Jackie told SEMANA.
The message that the agent who carried out the investigation into Maximiliano Cañón’s crime sent her a year ago resurfaced in her mind, depriving her of the chance to say goodbye to her husband: “I have to be careful, because the There are murderers.” most likely there.” nearby. The CTI investigator asks me not to pick up the body or go near the funeral home as these people were hired by an office. “I couldn’t bury my husband because the cemetery was full of bandits.”
The death of Maximiliano Cañón remains completely unpunished for the time being. The tentative agreement signed by the two hitmen with prosecutors in which they would only acknowledge their responsibility for the murder, but would not say who hired them or what their motives were for the attack. Maximiliano’s widow got the Bogotá Supreme Court to annul the application.
