Police have arrested a fugitive in Madrid, identified as Mono Girly, who Colombian authorities claim is a member of the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last major rebel group to control territory in Colombia. Monkey Girly is wanted by the courts on charges of money laundering and terrorist financing. Agents of the National Police’s fugitive group arrested him when he was about to enter a business he had opened with his partner in central Madrid.
El Mono Gerly had been part of the Eastern War Front for 20 years, according to police sources. Within the structure of the ELN, which operates in the Colombian departments of Arauca, Cassandre and Boyaca, he holds the position of “Third Commander of the Central Command”. He is accused of money laundering and financing terrorism. In addition, he is accused of illicit enrichment and conspiracy to commit crimes through shell companies, banking correspondents, and national and foreign currency exchange offices.
The fugitive allegedly provided the organization with an apparent legal system to launder money from drug trafficking and extortion, as well as other related crimes. Investigators classify him as responsible for coordinating people who provided support to the ELN, running laboratories to process drugs or delivering cash to be laundered through the purchase of farms, land, houses or exchange offices.
Agents from the fugitive group of the Central Unit for Combating Drugs and Organized Crime (Udyco Central) discovered that they had settled in one of the cities of Madrid since October, with their wife, although they did not maintain a fixed place of residence. After a series of surveillance and observation, he was finally arrested in a store he owned in the center of the capital, Madrid.
The ELN was born in 1964, roughly the same age as the FARC, inspired by the Cuban Revolution and marked by a deep religious influence. Since January 2025, the peace process with the ELN has been stalled after the Colombian government suspended dialogues, which allowed the group to consolidate its presence and territorial authority. In Arauca, on the border with Venezuela, the National Liberation Army recorded a noticeable strengthening. The group controls border crossings and regulates fuel and food smuggling, combining armed coercion with local administration. They recently attacked the governor of Arauca and kidnapped five soldiers.