Alias 'La Bebecita' shot dead in Riohacha alongside 'Bendito Menor' in police operation
Rosa Angélica Tarazona died on 4 September in Riohacha alongside the head of Los Pachenca and two other members. She was identified as a key figure in the criminal structure.
Who was Rosa Angélica Tarazona, alias 'La Bebecita', shot dead in Riohacha
Rosa Angélica Tarazona Tarazona, alias 'La Bebecita', died on Friday, 4 September 2026 in Riohacha, La Guajira, during an operation by the National Police in which Naín Andrés Pérez Toncel, alias 'Bendito Menor', head of the Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada (Acsn), known as Los Pachenca, also fell. Two further members of the organisation died in the same action, for a total of four deaths, according to infobae.com.
Tarazona's role within Los Pachenca
According to intelligence reports from the National Army, Tarazona did not hold a secondary role within the criminal structure. She was identified as responsible for administering resources and making payments to armed members and urban networks operating on the Troncal del Caribe and in La Guajira.
The authorities also linked her to logistics tasks, financial movements and internal security of the group. That position placed her in 'Bendito Menor's' circle of trust. Furthermore, the authorities linked her to the coordination of selective homicides in municipalities near the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which made her one of the most feared figures in that region, according to the same sources.
Previous arrest and return to public life
Tarazona had been detained in September 2025 during a joint operation by the Military Gaula and the CTI of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation in Guachaca, a rural area of Santa Marta. Transferred with strict security measures, she subsequently received a house arrest order.
Despite that process, she reappeared publicly alongside 'Bendito Menor'. The couple used social media to spread images and videos of trips, parties, motorcycles and vehicles. In June 2026, photographs of both circulated from a farmhouse at a location not publicly established. A month later, Tarazona reappeared with the ringleader during a motorcycle caravan that travelled through the streets of La Guajira.
The images spread widely and renewed questions about the structure's capacity for movement in the Guajiran capital. The public exposure continued in the following weeks.
The marriage proposal and the outcome in Riohacha
In August 2026, Pérez Toncel published a video on social media in which he proposed marriage to 'La Bebecita'. By then, both continued to appear on beaches, shopping centres and nightlife establishments whilst the authorities carried out operations to locate the ringleader.
That journey ended on Friday, 4 September, when Tarazona and Pérez Toncel died in the police operation alongside two other men accompanying them. The action was carried out by a special command from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Interpol (Dijín) of the National Police at a residence in the Los Olivos neighbourhood of Riohacha, near Almirante Padilla Airport, with the participation of units of the security forces and support from United States intelligence.
Reaction from President De la Espriella
President Abelardo de la Espriella spoke out hours later from the Cartagena Battalion in Riohacha. He maintained that Pérez Toncel was one of the most wanted criminals in the country and recalled that a reward of up to 1,000,000,000 pesos was being offered for information that would allow him to be located.
"Those who should feel panic and terror are the criminals, because those who do not surrender will end up this way," the president stated. De la Espriella added that his administration centres its efforts on preventing criminal organisations from intimidating the population.
Source: Google News CO — Crime