The new boss of the Digimin hindered the search for 'Artemio' in 2011

Since yesterday, General PNP (r) Withman Ríos Adrianzén is the new head of the General Intelligence Directorate of the Mininter (Digimin), by order of the Minister of the Interior, Willy Huerta. Both know each other, since they were part of the Republican Guard during their time in the institution.

Huerta bets on Ríos to lead this strategic unit in a context in which it has Colonel PNP Harvey Colchado, head of the Digimin Search Division and coordinator of the PNP special team that supports prosecutor Marita Barreto, in its ranks. in investigations that compromise the government.

Sources in the sector warn that the designation has not been accidental. “As they cannot control Colchado from the PNP, now they will want to do it from the Digimin, placing Ríos as their new boss,” commented a police source linked to the special investigation group.

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Sources also indicate that the relationship between Ríos and Colchado is not one of the best. The two have known each other for at least 11 years and were the protagonists of a tense moment prior to one of the main capture operations carried out by the PNP in the last 25 years: that of the hiker Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala, ‘Artemio’.

an unreliable general

In mid-2011, Colchado was a PNP major who belonged to Dirandro’s Special Operations Division (Divinesp), along with his colleague Walter Lozano, today also a member of the PNP special team. Both had been assigned to Huallaga with the mission of capturing the terrorist leader, an objective they fulfilled on February 12, 2012.

But in 2011, one of the main obstacles that the two officers had was the PNP general who was in charge of the police front in that area of ​​the department of San Martín: Withman Ríos Adrianzén. The current head of the Digimin was accused of committing disregard of the search efforts against ‘Artemio’, to the detriment of the troops and for the benefit of the then Colonel EP Jaime Sánchez Polo, highlighted by his institution in Huallaga.

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According to police sources, Ríos intended to build a good relationship with Sánchez Polo, taking advantage of the closeness that the latter had with the president of that time, Ollanta Humala, in such a way that he shared information on strategic points that Divinesp agents had previously identified so that If this were the case, it was the Army that would intervene.

This was evidenced, according to sources in the prosecution, in an episode that occurred in August 2011, when the PNP shot down the senderista Cricilio Varamendi Meza, ‘Tigre’, one of the main guards of ‘Artemio’.

The then-major PNP Lozano informed General PNP Ríos that they planned to intervene in ‘Tigre’ and that through him they were going to reach the leader of Sendero Luminoso.

When the PNP officer was on his way to the operation, an agent from the Constellation legal listening system warned him about a communication between Colonel EP Sánchez and an informant in the area. The two were talking about the catch that was about to take place. General PNP Whitman was the one who gave the notice.

Warned of this, Major PNP Lozano had to change the strategy on the fly, also assuming that this leak could put the lives of his staff at risk, the sources said.

Days later, ‘Tigre’ was killed in a confrontation with Divinesp agents. Colonel PNP Colchado would have chosen not to report this to Ríos, as a result of the precedent with his colleague Major PNP Lozano.

According to sources from this newspaper, Ríos imposed a six-day sanction on Colchado for not having informed him about the operation related to ‘Tigre’.

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From the prosecutor’s office they took the event with indignation and requested the change of the PNP general of the Huallaga Police Front. Óscar Valdés, Minister of the Interior in 2011, told El Comercio yesterday that Ríos was changed, without going into details, after they learned that “there was information that was leaking” by personnel in the area.

Today Ríos returns to work with Colchado but in the Digimin. Sources in the prosecution point out that the change could be considered as one more element of obstruction of justice.