El Topo (criminal)

El Topo was born on August 16, 1972, in Santo Domingo, Ecuador as Jamilton Andrés Ulloa Suárez.^[1] He first entered Venezuela in 2002 through San Antonio del Táchira and registered as a foreign citizen with resident status in 2004.^[1] Prior to moving to Venezuela, El Topo lived in Colombia and received paramilitary training at a young age.^[2] He first worked as a miner in Bolivar State, and over time rose through the ranks of illegal gold cartels. He became second-in-command of the illegal gold trade in Bolivar, and grew to manage thirty gold mines in Bolivar and Guyana after the death of his brother in 2009.^[2] El Topo was known for his brutal tactics of dismembering opponents and feeding the body parts to animals.^[3]

On March 4, 2016, residents of Tumeremo reported the disappearance of twenty-eight miners from the town. El Topo became the prime suspect for the disappearance, and the bodies of the miners were discovered in a mass grave with many having been shot in the head.^[2] The massacre was reportedly the result of a conflict between El Topo's gang Banda El Topo and another gang led by El Gordo.^[4] Following the massacre, El Topo became the most wanted criminal in Venezuela.^[3] SEBIN, the Venezuelan intelligence service, killed El Topo on May 6 at the El Limon mine in El Callao Municipality, Bolivar.^[3]