Monteverde Gang Responsible for Assaults in 14
Towns and 10 Deaths
A report in today's edition of
the Spanish language newspaper, La Nación, says they are in the
possession of a police documents that details the movements of the band
of assailants that attempted to rob the Banco Nacional in Monteverde.
The reports says that band of the brothers Hurtado were responsible for
assaults in fourteen town in four provinces, from Siquirres in Limon to
Miramar in Puntarenas, ending it all in Monteverde, where to brothers
lost their lives in a shoot out with bank guards and a third in police
custody.
In total, the band left 10 dead - 7 in Monteverde and one each in the
towns of Atenas, Naranjo and Sabanillas, all in the Alajuela province.
The group, before Monteverde, were known as the "La banda de montaña"
(the mountain gang) for their typical dressing of commando style
clothing and ski masks.
According to Jorge Rojas, director of the Organismo de Investigación
Judicial (OUJ), before Monteverde, they (the police) did not have
sufficient evidence to tie the gang to any specific crime.
The firs report of an assault by the gang was on the January 17, 2004,
where the group of men showed that they were well capable of killing,
when they shot the owner of a "pulperia" - small store - Rafael Ramírez,
in the town of Estanquillos de Atenas.
Authorities are now piecing the details of each assault and found that
the gang always carried more than sufficient ammunition and were always
ready to camp out after each assault, hiding out in the mountains.
In Monteverde, something happened that they had not counted on in all
the other assaults - the bank guards shot back. Two of the brothers,
Santos Hurtado Martínez and Santos Cruz Martínez, were killed on the
steps leading into the bank, while the third, Erlyn Hurtado, held more
than a dozen hostages for more than 28 hours before giving himself up to
police.
Erlyn is being detained in preventive detention in La Reforma prison for
12 months while the Fiscalía (Prosecutor's office) continues it's
investigation. Erlyn faces a barrage of charges, including the death of
seven - six bank employees and customers and one police officer.
As police continue their investigation into the gang and with the news
of the two brothers dead and one in the hands of the authorities, more
and more people are coming forth with information, not fearing the
gang's retributions any more.
So far, police have been able to attribute a number of assaults to the
gang, like the attack of the restaurant Bocadito de Cielo in Cervantes
de Alvarado, Cartago last march, the restauratn Don Porfis, in Río Clado
de Turrialba, the restaurant Pollos el Clon in Juan Viñas de Cartago and
the supermarket Aquiares, in Cartago, last August 23.
In all these instances, the gang wore military type fatigues and ski
masks and were heavily armed, terrorizing their victims and neighours
and instilling the fear of talking to police.
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