Editor's Note: Strong evidence exists that paramilitaries are being used to cross into Venezuela to carry out attacks on Venezuelan military and civilians. Magally Morena Vera is a paramilitary boss who previously worked for the Colombian government. After her capture, inside Venezuela on November 20, Venezuela's Minister of Interior Relations and Justice, Tareck El Aissami, said that Moreno has "extremely important information," and that authorities are investigating whether she also committed crimes within Venezuela. El Aissami also suggested she may have information about links between paramilitary groups and Colombian officials.

- Les Blough, Editor

Tareck El Aissami, Venezuela's Minister of Interior and Justice reports the capture of Magally Morena Vera, a Colombian paramilitary boss, inside Venezuela.

November 21, 2009
CICPC detained a paramilitary boss in Maracaibo, linked to the Government of Uribe
VTV

(Translated by Les Blough)

Magally Moreno Vera, known as "La Perla" (The Pearl) inside the Colombo paramilitary apparatus.

Magally Morena Vera, alias "The Pearl", worked in the General District attorney's Office of Colombia. She handled the relations between the United Self-defense of Colombia (AUC), a paramilitary organization and the Colombian security agencies. Moreno was a confidant of former Colombian Attorney General, Luis Camilo Osorio Isaza. Isaza is the current Ambassador of Colombia in Mexico.

Venezuela's Intelligence Agency (CICPC) captured Moreno on November 19 in the city of Maracaibo in the state of Zulia (in Venezuela, near the Colombian border). She was sought by Interpol for murder.

The Minister of Popular Power for the Interior Relations and Justice, Tareck El Aissami, reported the capture on Saturday in a press conference at CICPC headquarters in Caracas.

El Aissami indicated that the person under arrest, nicknamed inside the United Self-defense of Colombia (AUC), "The Pearl", is a paramilitary boss. In 2002 and 2003, the 39-year-old was an assistant to Ana María Flowers, an official of the General District attorney's Office of Colombia. Currently, Flowers is in prison.

El Aissami stated that when Magally Morena Vera worked in the General District Attorney's Office of Colombia, they took charge of the relations between the United Self-defense of Colombia (AUC) and the Colombian government's Administrative Department of Security.

Likewise it reported that Magally Moreno was a confidant of Luis Camilo Osorio Isaza, Colombia's current ambassador to Mexico and the former-Attorney General of Colombia. El Aissami emhasized, "That is to say, that a paramilitary boss was an assistant to the Attorney general of Colombia ... who was responsible for the Interior Relations and Justice.

The Aissami indicated that "The Pearl" was dedicated to run the operation, to remove investigators and to handle documents of the District attorney's Office, "especially those related to associated investigations to the paramilitary grous, according to a document published by The Spectator, a Colombian newspaper."

"This is a new probative element of the continuous and permanent aggressions of the Colombian government", said El Aissami.

VTV (in Spanish)