Those who tried to expose the violence faced lethal consequences.
In the mountains of northwestern Colombia, a phone abandoned in flight has become an unexpected witness to justice's slow pursuit. After a military operation in Briceño, Antioquia, forced FARC dissidents to scatter, soldiers recovered a device containing video evidence implicating alias Chala — a key suspect in the May 5 murder of journalist Mateo Pérez Rueda, who had been investigating the very criminal network now fleeing from the law. The case joins a pattern of lethal silencing: a human rights defender, Lina María Puentes Vega, was killed by the same structure a year prior. What a wounded man on a motorcycle left behind in haste may now carry forward what those who documented his crimes could not.
- A journalist was killed on May 5 for investigating a criminal network's reign of terror — extortion, murder, and the recruitment of children — and his killers are still at large, wounded but free.
- Military forces cornered FARC 36th Front dissidents in El Palmichal, killing one female combatant, but commanders Chala and Macho Viejo escaped injured into the rural terrain around Valdivia.
- The phone left behind in the chaos contains a video of alias Chala wounded on a motorcycle mid-firefight — the first hard visual evidence tying him to the operation and its aftermath.
- Chala had been hiding in plain sight: his TikTok profile showed him armed and posing on motorcycles, projecting impunity across social media even as investigators closed in.
- The Colombian government has placed rewards totaling over one billion pesos on the structure's leaders, while digital forensics teams work through the seized phone's contacts, messages, and location data.
- The killing of human rights defender Lina María Puentes Vega in 2025 now connects to the same network, revealing a deliberate pattern of eliminating those who document or resist their violence.
On a rural path in Briceño, Antioquia, soldiers moved in on members of the FARC's 36th Front — dissidents who had long since traded ideology for organized crime in Colombia's northwestern mountains. When troops reached El Palmichal, the men fled. In their haste, they left behind a phone.
What that device contained would prove significant. Military analysts found a video of a man on a motorcycle, moving through gunfire along a forest trail, visibly wounded. The Colombian Army identified him as alias Chala — Jhon Edison Chala Torrejano — one of the commanders they had come to find. Days after the operation, investigators also discovered his TikTok profile: heavily armed, posing on motorcycles, projecting the casual confidence of someone who believed himself beyond reach. His associate, alias Primo Gay, maintained a similar online presence.
Both Chala and his partner alias Macho Viejo were suspected of ordering the murder of journalist Mateo Pérez Rueda on May 5. Pérez had been investigating the network's campaign of extortion, killings, and forced recruitment of minors across Antioquia — and was preparing to publish his findings when he was killed.
The operation itself left one confirmed death: a female member of the criminal structure killed in the firefight. Chala and Macho Viejo escaped wounded toward Valdivia, moving through terrain they knew well. The government responded by announcing rewards of up to 500 million pesos for Chala, 100 million for Macho Viejo, and 640 million for Primo Gay, the structure's top leader.
The pattern of violence extended further back. Human rights defender Lina María Puentes Vega had been killed on May 31, 2025, in rural Huila — her work documenting violence and protecting vulnerable communities apparently enough to make her a target of the same network.
The abandoned phone remains at the center of the investigation. Telecommunications experts continue working through its contents — contacts, messages, location data — each detail a potential thread leading back to those still at large. The video of the wounded man on the motorcycle was only the beginning of what the device might reveal.
On a rural path in Briceño, Antioquia, soldiers closed in on members of the FARC's 36th Front—dissidents who had turned to organized crime in the mountains of northwestern Colombia. When the troops arrived at El Palmichal, the men scattered. In their rush to escape, they left behind a phone.
That device would become a window into the operation's aftermath. Military experts began combing through its contents, searching for anything that might lead them to the structure's leaders. What they found was a video: a figure on a motorcycle, moving through heavy gunfire along a forest trail. The man on the bike was wounded. According to the Colombian Army, it was alias Chala—one of the commanders they had come to find.
Chala, whose legal name is Jhon Edison Chala Torrejano, had become a public figure in the criminal underworld in a way that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. Military sources discovered his TikTok profile days after the operation. There he was, heavily armed, posing on motorcycles and in vehicles, moving through the countryside with the casual confidence of someone who believed himself untouchable. His associate, alias Primo Gay, maintained a similar presence online—the two men broadcasting their power across social media as if daring authorities to find them.
But Chala and his partner, alias Macho Viejo, had other things to answer for beyond their social media bravado. Both men were suspected of leading the criminal cell responsible for the murder of journalist Mateo Pérez Rueda on May 5. Pérez had been investigating the regime of terror that Chala and his network had imposed across Antioquia—the extortion, the killings, the recruitment of minors into violence. The journalist had been preparing to expose it. Instead, he was killed.
The military operation that yielded the phone resulted in one confirmed death: a female member of the criminal structure was killed in the firefight. Chala and Macho Viejo both sustained injuries but managed to flee toward the rural areas around Valdivia, moving through terrain they knew well. The government, recognizing the stakes, announced a substantial reward for information leading to their capture: up to 500 million pesos for Chala, 100 million for Macho Viejo, and 640 million for Primo Gay, the structure's top leader.
The seized phone represented more than just a single video. Telecommunications experts were still working through its contents, looking for communications, locations, contacts—anything that might help authorities close the net on a criminal organization that had grown bold enough to kill a journalist investigating their crimes. But Chala's digital footprint extended beyond that abandoned device. His TikTok account, his movements, his associates—all of it was now part of an active investigation.
There was another victim whose death connected to Chala's network. Lina María Puentes Vega, a human rights defender and member of a search collective in Huila, had been killed on May 31, 2025, in the rural area of Baraya. She too had been working to document violence and protect vulnerable communities. The pattern was becoming clearer: those who tried to expose or resist the 36th Front's operations faced lethal consequences.
The phone left behind in El Palmichal was now in the hands of military analysts, its contents being methodically examined. Each piece of data—each contact, each message, each location marker—represented a potential lead. The video of the wounded man on the motorcycle was just the beginning. What else the device might reveal could determine whether Chala and his network remained at large or whether the investigation that Mateo Pérez had died trying to pursue would finally reach its targets.
Citações Notáveis
One female member of the criminal structure was killed in the firefight; Chala and Macho Viejo sustained injuries but fled toward Valdivia.— Colombian Army statement
The structure terrorizes, murders, extorts, and recruits minors for violence across Antioquia.— Defense Ministry characterization of the 36th Front's operations
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why would someone like Chala, clearly operating a serious criminal enterprise, maintain such a visible social media presence? That seems reckless.
It's not reckless if you believe you're untouchable. These groups control territory. They have local protection, informants, sometimes even tacit tolerance from certain officials. Broadcasting power on TikTok isn't a bug—it's a feature. It intimidates rivals, attracts recruits, establishes dominance. Chala was showing everyone in that region: I am here, I am armed, I am winning.
But that visibility also makes him easier to find, doesn't it?
Yes, which is why the military found his profile so quickly after Pérez's murder. The phone they seized is the same logic—these men move fast, they're confident, they leave traces. The video on that device is evidence, but it's also a window into how they operate. They document themselves.
What about the journalist? What was Pérez actually investigating?
The structure's control system. Extortion, killings, recruitment of minors. Pérez was trying to document the machinery of terror that keeps a region in submission. He was going to name names and explain how it works. That's why he was killed.
And the human rights defender, Puentes—was she killed for similar reasons?
Almost certainly. She was documenting violence, searching for disappeared people, organizing resistance. In territories controlled by these groups, that work is fatal. Both Pérez and Puentes were doing the same thing: trying to make visible what the criminal structure wanted to keep hidden.
So the phone becomes crucial evidence not just of this operation, but of the broader pattern?
Exactly. It's not just a video of a wounded man. It's communications, locations, contacts—the infrastructure of the network. If analysts can extract that data, they can map the organization. That's why the government is offering half a billion pesos for Chala. He's not just a killer. He's a node in a system that has already claimed multiple lives.