On 17 February 2020, officers of Border River Command No. 51, attached to the 5th Marine Infantry Brigade, captured four alleged FARC-EP members on the Orinoco River.[1] Those detained identified themselves as FARC members but were presented by the authorities as members of violence-generating groups.[1] The reports noted that some of those detained were Venezuelan.[1] The detained men were named as Giovanny Calderón, Álvaro Róbinson Gutiérrez García, Wilmer Antonio Pulido and Carlos Enrique Nieves Salazar.[1]

They had 1,400 kilograms of suspected marijuana, as well as firearms and a large quantity of Colombian army uniforms.[1] The group kept a camp at Mapire, on the banks of the Orinoco in Anzoátegui state.[1] A second account likewise places the group’s camp at Mapire on the banks of the Orinoco.[2]

The four were brought before the military justice tribunals inside the Bolívar Integral Defence Operations Zone.[1] The prosecution requested pretrial detention against all four men and the court granted it.[1] They were charged with military rebellion and violation of a security zone, and the judge ordered their detention at the Oriente Penitentiary Centre (La Pica) in Monagas state.[1]