Cuchillo: Colombian narco Pedro Oliverio Guerrero’s autopsy

• How was Cuchillo’s body found?
• Pedro Oliverio Guerrero Castillo was one of the most wanted drug traffickers.
• The drug dealer’s life.

Pedro Oliverio Guerrero Castillo, alias «Cuchillo», was a Colombian narco-paramilitary who commanded the headquarters of the Héroes del Guaviare Front of the Centauros Bloc of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). He also led a gang of drug traffickers that committed crimes in Guaviare, Vichada and Meta.

El Cuchillo demobilized with the paramilitaries and later formed a successor group known as the ERPAC, which bought drugs from the guerrillas and controlled large portions of territory in eastern Colombia. He was killed during a raid by security forces on a ranch in December 2010.

Cuchillo tried to run away

After the Medellín cartel disappeared, Cuchillo joined the expedition of the paramilitary group Autodefensas Campesinas de Córdoba and Urabá in the eastern plain. HE was a member of the Eastern Bloc that would later become the Centauros Bloc of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Colombian drug trafficker Pedro Oliveiro Guerrero drowned in a stream in the middle of the jungle, entangled in lianas, the director of the Dijín, General Carlos Ramiro Mena, said.

How did Cuchillo die?

The Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Bogotá are trying to determine if a corpse found the day before corresponds to that of the drug trafficker Pedro Oliverio Guerrero, alias «Cuchillo», one of the most wanted drug traffickers in Colombia, the director of that agency reported.

“According to the circumstances in which we found the body, (the death) it was due to possible drowning or heart attack. He had fled. He was intoxicated and the place where he fell was very deep, the water temperature was very low,” the general explained to Caracol Radio according to Semana.

Pedro Oliverio Guerrero’s autopsy

In 2004, after a dispute, Cuchillo and a group of dissidents ambushed and assassinated their commander, Miguel Arroyave, before demobilizing as part of the peace process between the government and the AUC in 2006. However, shortly after he took up arms again with the Héroes de Vichada group.

Cuchillo died during a police raid on a farm where he and his relatives celebrated Christmas in 2010. While trying to escape he drowned in a nearby river due to the level of alcohol in his body.

What did his autopsy reveal?

Forensics from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Bogotá tried to determine if a corpse found on Christmas Eve corresponded to that of drug trafficker Pedro Oliverio Guerrero. The drug trafficker was wanted by the US government.

“We had asked the authorities to transfer him to Bogotá if possible. Due to the mechanisms that we have available here, I believe that once the procedure begins, in a couple of hours we can identify him,” said the director of the Institute, Juan Ángel Isaac Llanos.