One of Colombia’s most dangerous criminals has reportedly escaped from prison during a mass jailbreak, potentially fleeing the country in the process. 

“It is a very strange situation, everything could point to an act of corruption, it is not understood why he was still being held in a station with his criminal profile,” a police source told ES Euro. 

Retired Army Major Juan Carlos Rodriguez, also known as “Zeus,” was in prison for two weeks before making a daring escape on April 21. Local police claimed that 21 others detainees also escaped in the mass jailbreak, which started when an inmate faked an illness to draw guards into his cell and then ambush them. 

The inmates used the cover of a tropical storm to mask their escape from the facility, and video showed that Rodriguez covered his face with a towel as he hurried out of the cell and into the streets. At least 10 officers were present when the first guard opened the cell to check the inmates, according to Jam Press. 

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“As general director of the Police, I apologize for what happened in the city of Cúcuta: There have been a series of errors that are part of the investigation carried out by the Police Inspector,” William Salamanca, general of the National Police, said following the escape. 

A reward of 50 million Colombian pesos (around $12,000) has been offered for the capture of Rodriguez. 

Colombian President Gustavo Petro denounced Rodriguez as the “type of criminal association” that “must be dismantled as soon as possible.”

Police have initiated a wide-scale operation, including the closure of all exit routes from the city of Cucuta, in order to recapture the various fugitives. Reports have claimed as many as 50 inmates could now be at large following the escape.

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Some of the prisoners returned after sustaining injuries in the prison break, including one inmate who was trapped under the fence that surrounded the parking lot after it collapsed under the weight of the inmates trying to climb over it. 

One person claimed that Rodriguez was the one who actually planned the whole escape, according to Noticias Caracol. 

Colombian President Gustavo Petro delivers a speech during a May Day (Labor Day) rally in Bogotá on May 1, 2024. (Raul Arboldea/AFP via Getty Images)

Three police officers have been arrested for their role in the escape, though details remain scarce as to how they might have assisted the prisoners. 

Rodriguez was arrested and convicted for arms trafficking and for serving in the paramilitary for the Norte del Valle cartel, considered a major ally of drug dealer Diego Montoya, alias Don Diego, who traffics cocaine. Police arrested four other individuals with Rodriguez at the time. 

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He tried to present himself and his allies as members of the National Protection Unit and offered a “millionaire sum of money” to the officers to let him go free. Police seized a small military unit’s haul of weapons, including 9 mm pistols, Glocks, grenades, mortars and two bars of C4 explosives. 

A soldier patrols outside the Modelo prison in Cucuta, Columbia, during a riot on March 24, 2020. (Schneyder Mendoza/AFP via Getty Images)

Police also suspect Rodriguez of carrying out extrajudicial killings on behalf of his criminal associates, including the alleged murder of a journalist. He has previously served time in prison and has “numerous convictions,” with his first arrest coming in 2005.

His most recent arrest ended with parole in 2021, after agreeing to cooperate with authorities and provide information on ties between the military, paramilitary groups and drug traffickers throughout the country, according to Colombia Reports. 

Rodriguez had provided information about how the National Army had supported a rival cartel gang member to force a civil war in Norte del Valle. 

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has confirmed reports that the United States paused a weapons shipment to Israel, as President Joe Biden’s administration faces growing pressure to condition aid to the top US ally amid the war in Gaza.

Testifying before a US congressional subcommittee on Wednesday, Austin said the Biden administration had paused “one shipment of high payload munitions” amid concerns about the Israeli military’s push to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

“We’ve been very clear … from the very beginning that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace,” Austin told US lawmakers.

“We’ve not made a final determination on how to proceed with that shipment [of weapons],” the Pentagon chief added, noting that the transfer is separate from a supplemental aid package for Israel that was passed in late April.

“My final comment is that we are absolutely committed to continuing to support Israel in its right to defend itself.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, responded to the shipment pause by saying the US decision was “very dissapointing”.

“[US President Joe Biden] can’t say he is our partner in the goal to destroy Hamas, while on the other hand delay the means meant to destroy Hamas,” Erdan said.

Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from the White House on Wednesday, said the shipment included 1,800 bombs each weighing about 900kg (2,000lbs) and another 1,700 bombs each weighing 226kg (500lbs).

“There has been, leading up to this delay, significant concerns on the part of not only student protesters across the United States but also within the president’s own party … about how these weapons are being used,” Halkett said.

US Senator Bernie Sanders welcomed the Biden administration’s pause on the weapons transfer, but said it “must be a first step”.

“The US must now use ALL its leverage to demand an immediate ceasefire, the end of the attacks on Rafah, and the immediate delivery of massive amounts of humanitarian aid to people living in desperation,” Sanders said in a statement. “Our leverage is clear. Over the years, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.”

The Biden administration has faced months of criticism over its “iron-clad” support for Israel amid the Gaza war, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and plunged the enclave into a dire humanitarian crisis.

But Washington has largely continued to provide military and diplomatic backing to Israel as the war grinds on.

Israel stepped up its bombardment of Rafah on Monday, killing dozens of people after ordering about 100,000 residents in the city’s eastern areas to evacuate.

Israeli troops also stormed the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which serves as a major gateway for humanitarian aid.

Yet despite continuing to say it has concerns for the fate of the more than 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, the US Department of State this week sought to play down the recent moves by the Israeli army.

“This military operation that they launched last night was targeted just to [the] Rafah gate,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.

“It wasn’t an operation in the civilian areas that they had ordered to be evacuated. So we will continue to make clear that we oppose a major military operation in Rafah.”

Human rights advocates have urged the US to do more to pressure the country to end its war on Gaza, however, and President Biden faces mounting protests — including on US college campuses — over his stance.

A new poll released on Wednesday also suggested a growing disconnect between Biden and his Democratic Party base, which could pose a challenge as he campaigns for re-election in November.

The poll by Data for Progress, in collaboration with news website Zeteo, suggested that 56 percent of Democrats believed Israel was committing “genocide” in the besieged Palestinian territory.

It also found that seven in 10 American voters — and 83 percent of Democrats — also support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Hasan Pyarali, the Muslim Caucus chairman for College Democrats of America, the university arm of the Democratic Party, told Al Jazeera last week that many young people have signalled they will not vote for Biden in the upcoming election.

“It’s not just good policy to oppose the genocide; it’s good politics,” he said.

The United Nations defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”, including killings and measures to prevent births.

In January, the International Court of Justice — the UN’s top court — acknowledged there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and ordered Israel to take “all measures within its power” to prevent genocidal acts against Palestinians.

Israel has rejected the accusation that it is committing genocide.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police began to clear a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University early Wednesday and arrested dozens of protesters, hours after dozens left the site and marched to President Ellen Granberg’s home.

Officials at the university in Washington, D.C., had warned of possible suspensions for students engaging in protest activities on University Yard.

“While the university is committed to protecting students’ rights to free expression, the encampment had evolved into an unlawful activity, with participants in direct violation of multiple university policies and city regulations,” the university said in a statement.

Local media had reported that some protesters were pepper sprayed as police stopped them from entering the encampment and nearly 30 people had been arrested, according to community organizers.

In a statement, the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department said arrests were made for assault on a police officer and unlawful entry, but a number of arrests wasn’t immediately given. The department said it moved to disperse demonstrators because “there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest.”

Tuesday evening, protesters carrying signs that read, “Free Palestine” and “Hands off Rafah,” marched to Granberg’s home. Police were called to maintain the crowd. No arrests were made.

This comes as Mayor Muriel Bowser and MPD Chief Pamela Smith are set to testify about the District of Columbia’s handling of the protest at a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on Wednesday afternoon.

A pro-Palestinian tent encampment was cleared at the University of Chicago on Tuesday after administrators who had initially adopted a permissive approach said the protest had crossed a line and caused growing concerns about safety.

University President Paul Alivisatos acknowledged the school’s role as a protector of freedom of speech after officers in riot gear blocked access to the school’s Quad but also took an enough-is-enough stance.

“The university remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest,” Alivisatos wrote in a message to the university community.

Tensions have continued to ratchet up in standoffs with protesters on campuses across the U.S. — and increasingly, in Europe — nearly three weeks into a movement launched by a protest at Columbia University. Some colleges cracked down immediately on protests against the Israel-Hamas war. Among those that have tolerated the tent encampments, some have begun to lose patience and call in police over concerns about disruptions to campus life, safety and the involvement of nonstudents.

Since April 18, just over 2,600 people have been arrested on 50 campuses, figures based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.

But not all schools are taking that approach, with some letting protesters hold rallies and organize their encampments as they see fit.

The president of Wesleyan University, a liberal arts school in Connecticut, has commended the on-campus demonstration — which includes a pro-Palestinian tent encampment — as an act of political expression. The camp there has grown from about 20 tents a week ago to more than 100.

“The protesters’ cause is important — bringing attention to the killing of innocent people,” university President Michael Roth wrote to the campus community Thursday. “And we continue to make space for them to do so, as long as that space is not disruptive to campus operations.”

The Rhode Island School of Design, where students started occupying a building Monday, affirms students’ rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly and supports all members of the community, a spokesperson said. The school said President Crystal Williams spent more than five hours with the protesters that evening discussing their demands.

On Tuesday the school announced it was relocating classes that were scheduled to take place in the building. It was covered with posters reading “Free Palestine” and “Let Gaza Live,” and dove was drawn in colored chalk on the sidewalk.

Campuses have tried tactics from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to resolve the protests and clear the way for commencements.

At the University of Chicago, hundreds of protesters gathered for at least eight days until administrators warned them Friday to leave or face removal. On Tuesday, law enforcement dismantled the encampment.

Officers later picked up a barricade erected to keep protesters out of the Quad and moved it toward the demonstrators, some of whom chanted, “Up, up with liberation. Down, down with occupation!” Police and protesters pushed back and forth along the barricade as the officers moved to reestablish control.

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Associated Press journalists around the U.S. and world contributed, including Charles Rex Arbogast, Pat Eaton-Robb, Steve LeBlanc, Jeff Amy, Christopher Weber, Mike Corder, Barbara Surk, Rick Callahan, Sarah Brumfield and Pietro de Cristofaro.