By Luis Jaime Acosta and Jack Kimball

BOGOTA (Reuters) - One of Colombia's most-wanted former paramilitary commanders with suspected links to the cocaine trade has been captured in neighboring Venezuela, both nations said on Monday.

After years of acrimony, improved relations between Caracas and Bogota since Juan Manuel Santos came to power in Colombia in 2010 have led to the capture of a growing number of fugitive Colombians by Venezuela.

Hector German Buitrago - better known by his alias "Martin Llanos" and a former commander of one of Colombia's largest paramilitary groups - was arrested over the weekend along with his brother.

"Martin Llanos played the leading role in one of the bloodiest wars in the Llanos Orientales and left hundreds, I'd say thousands, of victims," Santos said.

"He made deals with FARC (leftist guerrillas) to divvy up the drug business, a business that in the last few years has extended to many countries, from Venezuela to Bolivia."

The 44-year-old was wanted for multiple counts of murder, terrorism, kidnapping and extortion.

Santos said Venezuela would hand over Llanos along with his brother, alias "Horse," to Colombia on Thursday, a day before a meeting between the nations' defense chiefs.

Venezuela's Interior Minister, Tareck El Aissami, said the pair were caught in the central state of Anzoategui, but gave few details of the operation.

"They are implicated in multiple homicides and a network of important narco-paramilitarism," he said.

Caracas broke off relations with Bogota in 2010 after Colombia's then president, Alvaro Uribe, accused Venezuela of harboring FARC guerrillas, but ties immediately improved when Santos came to power later that year. Continued...