Megateo, dead or alive?

Government announces that two of Colombia’s most wanted drug lords have been killed

The government reported on Friday, October 2, that one of Colombia’s most-wanted men, Víctor Ramón Navarro Serrano, known as Megateo, had been killed in an attack in a jungle area near the border with Venezuela.

Who was Megateo?

Megateo was born in 1976 in a small town in the Norte de Santander region. He joined the guerrilla group the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) at the age of 15, where he served, while also building a huge fortune by drug dealing and controlling vast coca plantations – which reports put at an area of almost 5,000 football pitches.As in many of the cases of very powerful capos, Megateo played a Robin Hood figure, giving away food and school supplies to the most needy, while also placing bombs and ordering the murder of policemen, soldiers, and civilians. According to reports, he has been involved in the death of at least 59 people in the last five years.Along with more common eccentricities such as extravagant golden jewellery and big 4x4s, Megateo had a weakness for girls between 12 and 15 years. It is said that he paid 20 million pesos to peasants to “buy” the virginity of their daughters.

“Recent intelligence information from the Armed Forces confirms that Megateo was killed. Great result, congratulations”, tweeted President Juan Manuel Santos.

However, less than a week later, questions were raised by a forensics report that indicated the drug lord’s body could not yet be identified.

Carlos Eduardo Valdes, Director of the National Institute of Forensics, explained that three bodies had arrived but said that so far they have only been able to identify one of them, Megateo’s body was not the one which had been identified.

The other drug lord killed was Martin Farfán González, most commonly known by his nickname Pijarvey, who was killed in Vichada region. He was involved with the Bloque Libertadores del Vichada, considered to be one of the most important drug trafficking organisations in Eastern Colombia.

By Steven Grattan