Magaly Janeth Moreno Vega was captured Thursday by Venezuelan police in Maracaibo near the countries' northern border, said Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, describing the 39-year-old wanted by Interpol as the "paramilitary chief" of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
"She is nicknamed... 'The Pearl' within the AUC" and "handles extremely important information," El Aissami said.
Bogota, however, promptly hailed her arrest, vowing to seek her extradition from Venezuela to be tried for various crimes in her native Colombia.
The AUC claims it took up arms to fight leftist rebels that have waged a decades-long insurgency in Colombia, but it also stands accused of having executed thousands of civilians.
El Aissami said Moreno Vega was, along with a colleague, in charge of "relations between the AUC and Colombian security forces, that is, the DAS (the Colombian intelligence agency), army and police."
The minister called Moreno Vega a "confidante" of former Colombian attorney general Luis Camilo Osorio Isaza, the current ambassador to Mexico, and said the arrest was evidence of "aggression" against Venezuela.
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