Colombian National Police, with Military GAULA, Attorney General's Office, and DEA support, dismantled a clandestine IED manufacturing warehouse in Usme, Bogotá, capturing two suspects and seizing materials for over 70 devices, a grenade launcher, and ammunition between 12:46 AM and 3:46 AM UTC on February 26, 2026, to prevent election-period terrorist actions linked to the ELN cartel. According to a statement from LatamSmallArms on X. In a separate operation, authorities captured Jorge Luis Páez Cordero, alias Cucaracho, a key Tren de Aragua leader wanted by Interpol, in a luxury residence in Santa Marta following months of DEA-coordinated surveillance, as reported by WorldCrimeIntel on X during the same three-hour window. The Bogotá raid yielded enough components for more than 70 improvised explosive devices believed intended for terrorist acts, with officials stating "DEMOCRACY IS NOT INTIMIDATED: WE ARE PREPARED TO FACE THE CRIMINALS WHO THREATEN IT," and offering a 200 million peso reward for information neutralizing threats, per the LatamSmallArms post. Páez Cordero faces accusations of orchestrating multi-ton cocaine shipments from Colombia and Venezuela to Central America, the USA, and Europe via drug speedboats, confirmed in the WorldCrimeIntel report. In Argentina, during the reporting period, 364 kg of Sinaloa Cartel-linked cocaine was seized in Rosario de la Frontera, Salta, after a Bolivian light aircraft crashed on an improvised airstrip, with two Bolivian pilots and three Argentines, including a suspected cartel soldier, arrested, as detailed by WorldCrimeIntel on X.
