Edilberto Berrio Ortiz

Edilberto Berrio Ortiz, known as El Gavilan, was forcibly recruited into the FARC as a child and later served in its 57th Front. He was among the armed guards who held U.S. citizen Cecilio Juan Padrón in a jungle camp after Padrón was kidnapped in Panama City on April 4, 2008. Colombian authorities arrested Berrio Ortiz in Medellín on December 3, 2009, and he arrived in New York after extradition on November 17, 2010. He was convicted of hostage taking and hostage-taking conspiracy on June 20, 2011 after a bench trial on stipulated facts and sentenced on November 10, 2011 to seventeen years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and $3 million restitution. Bureau of Prisons records report his release on July 31, 2024.