Gang leader 'Bendito Menor' shot dead in Riohacha days after public marriage proposal on Caribbean beach
Naín Andrés Pérez Toncel, alias 'Bendito Menor', was killed in a police operation in Riohacha alongside his partner and two bodyguards. Days earlier he had staged a viral marriage proposal on a beach.
Police operation in La Guajira ends the life of alias 'Bendito Menor' and his partner
Naín Andrés Pérez Toncel, alias Naín or Bendito Menor, approximately 26 years old, died in the early hours of Friday 4 September 2026 during an operation by the National Police in the Los Olivos neighbourhood of Riohacha, department of La Guajira. This was confirmed to infobae.com by sources at the Ministry of Defence. The operation also claimed the lives of his partner, Rosa Angélica Tarazona, known by the alias La Bebecita, and two members of his security detail.
The operation was carried out in the vicinity of Almirante Padilla airport, with initial reports indicating the action began on the evening of Thursday 3 September.
Leader of the Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada
According to authorities, Pérez Toncel was one of the main leaders of the Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada (ASCN), also known as Los Pachenca, where he served as head of the Javier Cáceres front. Tarazona, for her part, was identified as responsible for the group's illicit finances, strategic contacts, and security.
The couple had turned their social media into a platform for self-promotion. They distributed videos touring neighbourhoods and districts of Riohacha surrounded by armed men, patrolling on motorcycles and displaying rifles. In several recordings, Pérez Toncel announced a supposed "social cleansing" with the argument of restoring peace to the inhabitants of northern Colombia: "We are here in the Dividivi. We are patrolling everywhere. The time has come. Pure conquistadores. Let's see what this is about."
In another recording he is heard saying: "From today, we will not charge any more or profit any further from traders, nor from small nor medium businesses, nor from entrepreneurial people. We will be here for the people."
The marriage proposal that went viral
Fifteen days before the operation, the couple staged a wedding proposal on a Caribbean beach in Colombia that circulated widely on social media. She arrived in a white dress with her eyes blindfolded; upon uncovering them she found a path of rose petals, lit torches and a sign with the question "Will you marry me?". The video was shared by Pérez Toncel himself.
After news of both their deaths emerged, those images began circulating widely once more. Among the viral posts were also photos of the couple on a motorcycle wearing a Colombia shirt, in a nightclub with the message "I love you, my queen" and in a bed tagged with the word "Relaxed". In one of his posts, he wrote: "I know I am not so good, love, but I try to give the best for us both. I thank you for the patience you have when I am stressed and the love you give me each day."
Reward, motorcycle caravan and presidential pressure
Pressure on Pérez Toncel had intensified in the preceding months. The Ministry of Defence set an official reward of up to 500 million pesos, but alias Bendito Menor responded with a new public mockery: "A billion going around. Relaxed in every corner of La Guajira. Without so much stress and so they do not say it is with AI."
One of the most commented recordings showed him crossing a military checkpoint without any recorded intervention, a scene that reinforced the perception of impunity he had cultivated on the internet.
The episode that maximised institutional pressure was the motorcycle caravan he led in July 2026. After that event, then president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella ordered preparation of an operation and declared Pérez Toncel a priority target. "Proceed to prepare everything necessary to capture or eliminate, if he resists, this ruffian," he declared. "I have given the criminals an opportunity to surrender; if they do not, the full weight of the law must fall upon them. I will be relentless with those who sow violence and death."
The operation on 4 September materialised that order.
Source: Google News CO — Crime