El Topo

Jamilton Andrés Ulloa Suárez was an Ecuadorian criminal and gang leader better known as El Topo who illegally controlled the mining, distribution, and marketing of gold from Bolivar State in Venezuela through his gang Banda El Topo. He is also known for perpetrating the massacre of twenty-eight miners in Tumeremo, Venezuela in 2016.

Biography El Topo was born on August 16, 1972, in Santo Domingo, Ecuador as Jamilton Andrés Ulloa Suárez. He first entered Venezuela in 2002 through San Antonio del Táchira and registered as a foreign citizen with resident status in 2004. He first worked as a miner in Bolivar State, and over time rose through the ranks of illegal gold cartels. He became second-in-command of the illegal gold trade in Bolivar, and grew to manage thirty gold mines in Bolivar and Guyana after the death of his brother in 2009.

On March 4, 2016, residents of Tumeremo reported the disappearance of twenty-eight miners from the town. El Topo became the prime suspect for the disappearance, and the bodies of the miners were discovered in a mass grave with many having been shot in the head. Following the massacre, El Topo became the most wanted criminal in Venezuela. SEBIN, the Venezuelan intelligence service, killed El Topo on May 6 at the El Limon mine in El Callao Municipality, Bolivar.