Héctor Germán Buitrago

Héctor Germán Buitrago Parada (January 23, 1968 in Monterrey, Casanare), also known as Martín Llanos, and also as Patezorro or Marroco, is a Colombian right-wing paramilitary leader and drug lord. At the time of his arrest by authorities he was considered the last one of the big paramilitary leaders, as he had been successful in evading capture for years.

Biography Early life By the end of the 1970s his father, Héctor José Buitrago Rodríguez (also known as "El Viejo" or "Tripas"), had assembled a group of cattle-raiser families in the municipalities of Monterrey, in the Casanare department, in the region of Colombia's eastern plains, and provided them with weapons so as to fight against extortion and kidnapping by the FARC guerrillas. As this early group, known as "Los Buitragueños," grew up in power and influence it became the basis of the Autodefensas Campesinas de Casanare (ACC), one of the most powerful paramilitary organizations in Colombia. The growth of the organization was supported by the economic and military support provided by drug lord Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, going from a group of about 60 individuals to about 500. It has also been suggested that the organization received support from emerald czar Víctor Carranza. With the death of Rodríguez Gacha in 1989, the ACC became closer to drug trafficking organizations in Venezuela.

Buitrago's father ordered a massacre of eleven members of a judicial commission in 1997, which led to his being arrested in 1998. He was liberated from jail by his sons, Buitrago and his brother Nelson (also known as "Caballo"), but eventually recaptured in 2010. Whatever the case, and despite recruiting hundreds of children and teenagers to help with the war, leaving thousands of fatalities behind, the AUC proved superior. This led to Buitrago seeking allegiances with former enemies from the FARC guerrilla, particularly commander Negro Acacio, to no avail. Buitrago was condemned to 35 years in prison for the assassination of 34 people. He was also condemned to 14 years for the murder of Casanare's governor Emiro Sossa in 2001.