Los Rastrojos emerged as the result of an internal conflict within the Norte del Valle Cartel (NDVC), one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Columbia, during the 1990s.[3] Los Rastrojos was created in 2002 to serve as the armed wing for NDVC leader Wilber Varela, alias “Jabón,” in order to fight rival leader Diego Leon Montoya, and his rival faction Los Machos.[4] In the beginning, Los Rastrojos were primarily an enforcement group for the NDVC and worked to protect drug laboratories and trafficking routes. During this time, Diego Perez Henao, (alias “Diego Rastrojo”), was responsible for recruiting members to the group; the organization later took on his name to become Los Rastrojos.[5] In 2003 the group sought to gain legitimacy to enter into peace talks with the Colombian government. To do so it changed its name to Ronda Campesina Populares (RCP), meaning “popular Peasant Patrols.” However, the government refused to negotiate with them as they did not view them as a paramilitary group; the organization subsequently returned to its original name.[6]
Following the capture of Diego Montoya, and the subsequent inability of Los Machos to pay their cocoa farmers, Los Rastrojos gained control of operations in Valle del Cauca. Los Rastrojos rapidly expanded their reach in the drug trafficking network into multiple new regions across the country.[7] In its early days, Los Rastrojos operated along Colombia’s Pacific Coast, specifically in the departments of Valle del Cauca, Cauca, Nariño, and Putumayo, which were important for trafficking drugs to coastal export points.[8] Beginning in 2006, the group began to expand outside of its traditional Pacific strongholds, a process that saw it eventually operate in over one third of Colombia's 32 provinces. The initial expansion included the regions of Quindío, Risaralda, Caldas, and La Guajira, and reached its peak with an eventual presence in Antioquia, Bolívar, Cesar, Chocó, Córdoba, Santander, and Norte de Santander.[9]
As Los Rastrojos expanded beyond the Pacific coast, founding leader Wilber Varela began to lose control of the organization.[10] Internal tensions peaked when Diego Perez Henao (alias “Diego Rastrojo”) conspired with Luis Enrique Calle Serna and the independent drug trafficker Daniel Barrera (alias “El Loco Barrera” or “El Loco”) to remove Varela and seize control of the business for themselves.[11]
Varela was found dead in Mérida, Venezuela, in 2008.[12] Following the assassination, the partnership with Barrera deepened and the organization’s strength grew significantly, with its membership eventually exceeding 1,500 men.[13] This transition solidified a new leadership structure led by the Calle Serna brothers—Javier Antonio (alias “Comba”) and Luis Enrique—working alongside Perez Henao and Barrera.[14]
During this period of growth, the organization expanded its trafficking activity into 29 municipalities across five departments by 2009.[15] Los Rastrojos’ relationship with Dnaiel Barrera also helped it expand their trafficking internationally into Latin America, where it supplied cocaine for Mexican drug cartels including Sinaloa Cartel, Gulf Cartel, and Los Zetas using Ecuadorian trafficking routes.[16] The group also developed relationships with other South American criminal organizations with another Calle Serna brother, Juan Carlos, reportedly managing foreign relations for organizations in Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru.[17] By 2010, Los Rastrojos was one of the largest criminal organizations in Columbia and worked with other organizations to carry out its operations.[18] The group reportedly worked with the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in order to obtain less expensive coca and transport drug shipments through guerilla-controlled territories.[19]
The group collapsed in May 2012, when leader Javier Antonio Calle Serna surrendered to U.S. authorities.[20] Shortly after, in June 2012, Perez Henao was captured by Colombian authorities, and Barrera was seized in Venezuela.[21] Following this, Luis Enrique Calle Serna handed himself into U.S. authorities in October.[22] The string of events left the group with no clear leadership and significantly weakened the organization. Some reports suggest that information provided to the authorities by Javier Antonio Calle Serna after his surrender led to the arrest of additional members within the organization's leadership.[23] As a result, by 2013, only small factions of the group remained in the Narino, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, and Norte de Santander departments. Those in Valle del Cauca eventually joined together and named themselves La Inmaculada, later becoming regionally powerful by partnering with local gangs and becoming involved in drug trafficking and extortion.[24] Other remaining members formed new criminal groups in other locations like Barranquilla, where a splinter group, the Rastrojos Costeños, emerged in 2013.[25]
Remaining members in the Norte de Santander region, meanwhile, continued operations on the Columbia-Venezuela border, leading to a resurgence of the group.[26] Those remaining relied on cross-border activities like trafficking, extortion, and smuggling, which allowed Los Rastrojos to regain some control over the region.[27] In 2015, Los Rastrojos began an intense conflict with their long-time rivals, the Gaitanistas (also known as the Urabeños); in 2017, Los Rastrojos declared victory and expanded into the Venezuelan state of Táchira[28]. In 2018, the group established a base in Boca de Grita and used it as a hub for the organization’s lucrative gasoline smuggling operations.[29] As the group expanded further, it also faced confrontation with Venezuelan security forces.[30] In October 2018, approximately 70-100 members of Los Rastrojos attacked La Mulata, a Venezuelan military base located twenty meters from the Columbian border; the attack was allegedly retaliation for the arrest of several members of the group by Venezuelan authorities.[31]
In 2019, internal tensions began to grow again over control disputes and culminated in a violent shootout between rival factions in Boca de Grita. The confrontation reportedly involved supporters of Wilfrido de Jesús Torres Gómez (alias “Neco”) and a rival faction led by Jhon Jairo Durán Contreras (alias “El Menor”) and left 12 members dead and 20 wounded. Around the same time, the ELN also began encroaching on the group’s territory, leading to direct confrontations between the two the following year.[32] In early 2020, this fighting resulted in the displacement of around 900 Venezuelan citizens that fled to Colombia’s Puerto Santander.[33] In March of 2020, eight alleged members of Los Rastrojos were found dead near the Colombian border city of Cúcuta, reportedly killed by the ELN as a result of the ongoing conflict.[34] In 2021, as a last-ditch attempt, the Rastrojos sought the help of their previous rivals, the Gaitanista Army, for help in their battle against the ELN; however, this effort was unsuccessful.[35]As a result, Los Rastrojos fractured into multiple smaller groups throughout the 2020s, including Rastrojos Costeños, La Inmaculada, and New Generation of Rastrojos (Nueva Generación). New Generation of Rastrojos was active as recently as 2025, when it reportedly made threats against the life of the mayor of Riofrio, a municipality of Colombia.[36]Ultimately, the main Los Rastrojos organization is effectively defunct, as its membership has dwindled and its central leadership has disappeared, though its influence persists through the aforementioned offshoots.[37]
