Colombia’s President Gave His Ministers a Week to Bring In Alias Pinocho. He Refused to Negotiate.
COLOMBIA · SECURITY
Key Facts
- —Who he is Fredy Castillo Carrillo, also known as El Ganadero, a leader of the ACSN armed group.
- —His proposal He publicly offered to submit to justice, asking for a law guaranteeing terms.
- —The answer De la Espriella said on 12 September there are no negotiations, delays or demands.
- —The order His defence and justice ministers have one week to arrange the surrender.
- —Also revived The president ordered his extradition to the United States reactivated.
- —The catch No new surrender law exists. The justice ministry says there are no shortcuts.
Under the previous government he was recognised as a peace-talks representative. That framework is gone.
Colombia’s president has given his defence and justice ministers one week to arrange the surrender of alias Pinocho. He issued the order on Friday, 12 September 2026.
The sequence has been reported backwards in some accounts. The armed group leader asked first, and the government refused the terms he wanted.
What He Asked For
Fredy Castillo Carrillo, known as Pinocho and also as El Ganadero, publicly proposed submitting to justice. He asked for a specific law of submission guaranteeing his terms.
That is a recognisable request in Colombia. Successive governments have passed framework laws setting reduced sentences in exchange for surrender, disclosure and reparation.
President Abelardo De la Espriella rejected it outright. He said there are no negotiations, no delays and no demands.
He then instructed his ministers to coordinate the surrender within a peremptory deadline of one week. He also ordered the request for extradition to the United States reactivated.
The justice ministry replied on Saturday, 13 September. It said surrender must run through existing institutional channels, with no shortcuts, privileges or agreements outside the constitution and the law.
Who He Is
His criminal career spans two decades and three organisations. He began under the paramilitary Frente Resistencia Tayrona, then moved to a group known as Los Mellizos.
He ended up with Los Pachenca, which now calls itself the ACSN. That is the Conquering Self-Defence Forces of the Sierra Nevada.
He was extradited to the United States in 2008 on drug trafficking charges. He returned to Colombia in 2011 and entered the Justice and Peace programme.
He was captured in Spain in January 2022 and extradited back. He was released in June 2023 and is currently a fugitive.
One detail is worth underlining. He denied belonging to the ACSN for years, then was recognised as its official representative in peace talks in 2025.
What the ACSN Is
The Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra Nevada emerged from structures left behind when the paramilitary umbrella demobilised. It was previously known as Los Pachenca.
It controls territory in Magdalena and La Guajira, around the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. That geography places it on a Caribbean coastline and near a border.
Its activities are described as drug trafficking, extortion, selective homicides and illegal arms trafficking. It is a criminal organisation with paramilitary ancestry rather than an insurgency.
The Policy Change Underneath
This is the clearest signal yet of how the new government differs from its predecessor on armed groups. The contrast is structural, not rhetorical.
Gustavo Petro’s total peace framework treated groups like the ACSN as counterparties in dialogue. That is why alias Pinocho was recognised as a peace-talks representative in 2025.
De la Espriella‘s posture is unilateral and unconditional surrender, with no negotiated benefits and extradition restored. Those are opposite propositions.
What has not been established is whether the legal architecture of total peace has been formally repealed. Declining to use a law is not the same as removing it.
One secondary reference says the government has officially ended all dialogue processes. That could not be confirmed against a primary government source and is not asserted here.
The Problem With the Deadline
A one-week deadline to arrange the surrender of a fugitive contains an obvious difficulty. The government does not control whether he presents himself.
What ministers can do in a week is prepare a process, not deliver a person. The order reads as a political instruction about posture rather than an operational plan.
If he does not appear, the deadline passes without consequence. If he does, the question becomes what he is offered, which the government says is nothing.
That is the tension inside the policy. A surrender regime that offers no benefit gives a wanted man little reason to use it.
The extradition revival sharpens it further. Facing a United States proceeding is a strong argument for staying in the Sierra Nevada.
More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is alias Pinocho?
Fredy Castillo Carrillo, also known as El Ganadero, a leader of the ACSN armed group in Magdalena and La Guajira. He was extradited to the United States in 2008, returned in 2011, recaptured in Spain in 2022 and released in 2023.
What did he ask for?
A specific law of submission guaranteeing his terms in exchange for surrendering to Colombian justice.
What did the government say?
President De la Espriella rejected negotiation and ordered his defence and justice ministers to arrange the surrender within one week. The justice ministry said there would be no shortcuts or privileges outside the constitution.
What is the ACSN?
The Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra Nevada, formerly Los Pachenca, a criminal organisation descended from demobilised paramilitary structures. It is linked to drug trafficking, extortion and selective homicides.
How does this differ from the previous policy?
The previous government’s total peace framework treated such groups as dialogue counterparties, and recognised Pinocho as a peace-talks representative in 2025. The current government offers unconditional surrender and has revived his extradition.
Sources: El Pais of Cali and Vanguardia of 12 September, Infobae of 13 September, El Espectador and InSight Crime.
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