As part of a joint security operation with prosecutors and other government officials at the end of February, Colombia’s national police seized 100 weapons, and eight properties, and arrested three legal representatives of several private security companies. A former colonel and captain in the country’s police force were detained. Both now face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and illegal enrichment.

Authorities targeted three security companies that allegedly facilitated access to weapons and provided bodyguard licenses to members of criminal groups operating across various departments and the cities of Bogotá, Neiva, Ibagué, Puerto Triunfo, and Villavicencio.

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During a March 10 cabinet meeting, President Gustavo Petro questioned the irregularities within the private security industry that allow these practices to occur.

“Criminals are being given a free pass,” he said during the meeting. “The owners of security companies are paramilitaries and drug traffickers, sometimes ex-military and ex-police officers.”

The Colombian government awarded contracts to some companies recently implicated through the National Protection Unit (Unidad Nacional de Protección – UNP), the state body in charge of managing protection measures provided to individuals and communities living in high-risk environments.

InSight Crime Analysis

The involvement of former members of Colombia’s security forces in using private security companies to provide illegal services to crime groups highlights the continuation of a years-long, mutually beneficial relationship that has bolstered the country’s armed groups.

This is just one consequence of the outsourcing of public security in Colombia, a country that has been deeply affected by a multi-decade armed conflict featuring dozens of criminal actors, according to Luis Fernando Quijano, a security analyst in Medellín and president of the non-profit Corporation for Peace and Social Development (Corporación para la Paz y el Desarrollo Social – Corpades).

“The privatization of public security has turned private security companies into a profitable business,” he told InSight Crime. “The state has facilitated some illegal activity in this country, and the issue of [private] security is a clear example.”

For many years, crime groups from all over Colombia have relied on these companies to source weapons and pass members off as registered bodyguards.

Alexander Ruíz Pulido, for example, the retired colonel who was among those arrested during the February operation, also directed several similar businesses in the cities of Cúcuta, Barranquilla, Medellín, and Pereira, as well as in the United States in Miami, Florida. Some of Ruíz Polido’s companies had links to former paramilitary leaders with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia – AUC). Among those who reportedly received weapons and official licenses was Oliverio Isaza Ramírez, alias “Terror,” a commander with the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC), the main armed group to emerge from the ashes of the AUC. Security forces killed Terror in February.

SEE ALSO: Paramilitary Commander Salvatore Mancuso Reveals AUC’s Connections in Colombia

In another case, a company called SIP Security registered Alejandro Restrepo Marulanda, alias “El Zarco,” and Matías Álvarez Tabares, alias “Keiber” – members of two of Medellín’s most prominent crime groups, Los Tirana and La Terraza – as bodyguards with access to weapons. The chief operating officer of that company is a retired police officer named John Velásquez, according to a November 2024 report from El Tiempo. On one occasion, El Zarco managed to avoid arrest by using documents that showed he was a bodyguard. Velásquez had reportedly obtained police accreditation for those documents.

Beyond providing access to weapons and licenses, private security companies have also helped thwart criminal prosecutions in Colombia. In April 2024, a judge ordered the release of Juan Carlos Castro, alias “Pichi Belén,” a leader of the Oficina de Envigado. Police caught the gang boss openly threatening another person with a weapon in Medellín, but authorities released him because he had a legal permit from a private security company to possess the weapon.

Castro was a client of José Omar Urrego Chitiva, a former police captain and representative of Securbel Ltda. Who was also captured as part of the February operation. Urrego Chitiva used his company to issue a work certificate to Castro that allowed him to later recover the seized weapon, according to a telephone conversation authorities intercepted between Castro and another individual.

Many other major criminal actors in Colombia have used private security companies to give their illicit activities a veneer of legality. The AUC strengthened its military operations through private security and surveillance cooperatives known as the Convivir. These groups served as a point of intersection between the paramilitaries, the military, and business elites, aiding the paramilitary expansion by acting as a conduit to channel weapons, classified information, and other resources into their hands.

The Convivir continues to exist in cities like Medellín. While some maintain their role as local security providers, they have also become involved in illegal activities such as micro trafficking and extortion.

This article, written by Sara Garcia and Juan Camilo Jaramillo, was originally published by InSight Crime, a Medellín-based foundation dedicated to the investigation and analysis of crime and security in Colombia and Latin America. It has been generously shared with Finance Colombia under a Creative Commons license.