Venezuela: Who was ‘El Koki’ and how did the authorities manage to cut off all his criminal ties?

Carlos Revette, one of the most wanted criminals in Venezuela and known as ‘El Koki’, was killed this Tuesday during a police operation carried out in the Aragua state, in the center of the country.

Revette, for whom there was offered a reward of 500,000 dollars, fell during a confrontation, after members of the different police forces managed to surround him in a sector of the city of Las Tejerías, in the Santos Michelena municipality, about 100 kilometers from Caracas (capital of Venezuela), informs RT.

“Operation Indio Guaicaipuro II 2022 remains active, in Aragua state, with new arrests and, after an armed confrontation against the police forces, Carlos Luis Revette, alias ‘el Koki‘ CIV: 14,388,022, was killed, we continue in the search for his accomplices» said the Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Remigio Ceballos Ichaso, on his Twitter account.

The authorities found ‘El Koki’ after deploying last Sunday an intense police operation ‘Guaicaipuro II’, with which they seek to dismantle the criminal groups dedicated to drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, contract killings, robbery and homicide that have settled themselves in a mountainous area of Las Tejerías.

Minister Ceballos reported on Monday that the area was controlled by the authorities, that four people had been captured and that they were carrying out rescue tasks for civilians who were in danger.

In addition, he stressed that the sector was taken over by members of the different State security forces, including the Bolivarian National Police, the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC) and the Armed Forces, among others.

The authorities continue with the police deployment after the search for other criminals linked to ‘Koki’ who have been identified as Garbis Ochoa Ruiz, alias ‘El Garvis’; Carlos Calderón, alias ‘El Vampi’; and Carlos Enrique Gómez Rodríguez, alias ‘El Conejo’. The latter was the leader of the gang that operated in Las Tejerías, specifically in the El Béisbol and El Cañaote sectors.

Who was ‘El Koki’ in Venezuela and with whom was his criminal group linked to?

Alias ‘El Koki’ was the head of the defunct criminal organization that operated in Cota 905, a mountainous area in which one of the largest neighborhoods in Caracas is located and which had influence over other sectors of the capital known as El Valle, El Cementerio, El Paraíso, La Vega and Santa Rosalía.

It was in July 2021 when the Venezuelan police forces managed —after several days of operations— to dismantle the ‘Koki’ gang and regain control of the areas taken over by the criminal group. On that occasion, Revette and several of his accomplices managed to escape.

The Venezuelan authorities reported that by taking control of Cota 905, they managed to seize a large batch of high-caliber firearms, including bazookas, rifles with powerful telescopic sights, hundreds of ammunition, among others.

The ‘Koki’ gang used to carry out acts of terror against citizens and even attacked an important police headquarters. The vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, said at the time that this criminal organization had links with extremist sectors of the Venezuelan opposition, including Juan Guaidó and the fugitive from justice Leopoldo López, as well as with the Government of Iván Duque in Colombia.

Rodríguez accused those involved of planning the execution of paramilitary actions to generate a civil war with which they intended to «sow anguish in the population of Caracas» and undermine the rule of law in the country. On that occasion, the Venezuelan vice president explained that among the weapons seized were several made in the United States and others that belonged to the Colombian Armed Forces.