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Commander Néstor Gregorio Vera, known as ‘Iván Mordisco’, died in a bombardment by the armed forces last weekend, Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano announced this Friday, July 15. He would have been killed along with nine other combatants in a jungle area in the southwest of the country, in the department of Caquetá. His body was not found, but authorities did locate some of his belongings.
Last Sunday, July 10, the Colombian army announced the death of 10 guerrillas from a dissidence of the extinct guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, in San Vicente del Caguán, southwest of the territory, in the department from Caqueta. This Friday, the Ministry of Defense, Diego Molano, confirmed that alias ‘Iván Mordisco’, one of the main leaders of the dissidents, fell in that action. The death of his partner and his first security ring were also confirmed.
Although his body could not be found, which, according to the Police, could have been hidden or disintegrated during the military action, his beret and cell phone were located. According to the reports of the authorities, they were able to confirm his death through interceptions in the communications of the dissidents, who assured of his death.
The guerrilla leader had been captured in 2015 by the Army in the town of Miraflores, in the department of Guaviare, before managing to regain his freedom. According to the authorities, it has taken months to locate the guerrilla leader and launch the operation.
“Several operations were carried out that ended up surrounding him on the banks of the Caquetá River, where on July 8, he died. The operation that ended with his death began 60 days ago due to police and military intelligence information. 16 operational moves were made, but Bite managed to slip away. He moved easily in boats on the Caquetá River. Then he took the Caguán river and it was in that municipality that he ended up falling, ”said the commander of the Armed Forces, Luis Fernando Navarro.
From the FARC to the dissidents
Alias ’Iván Mordisco’ joined the already demobilized FARC guerrilla at the end of the 1990s. He started out as a foot soldier, but quickly specialized as a sniper and explosives expert within the Armando Ríos Front in San José del Guaviare. Until 2012, he focused on forced recruitment and the protection of illicit crops in the departments of Guaviare and Vaupés.
When the Peace Agreement was signed in Havana, in 2016, Mordisco informed in a letter that he would not hand over his weapons and called on all “guerrillas, guerrillas, militia men and women” who did not agree with the peace process to ” join forces” and “continue the insurgent struggle”.
According to the organized crime investigation center ‘InSight Crime’, his power lay “in commanding the dissidence of Front 1, which has a presence in Guaviare, Vaupés and Vichada and has approximately 400 members” and was “one of the main criminal actors of the south of Colombia.
He allied himself with dissidents such as Miguel Botache Santillana, alias ‘Gentil Duarte’ and together, they acted in 133 municipalities in Colombia thanks to two coordinated commands and 28 mobile fronts. Both would be responsible for 115 of the 329 violent deaths caused in the context of the conflict for the year 2021, according to the Investigation and Accusation Unit of the Colombian Special Jurisdiction for Peace, known as JEP.
‘Insight Crime’ explains that ‘Mordisco’ was a key player in ‘Gentil Duarte’s’ plan to unite the FARC dissidents, and that he commissioned this operation in northern Colombia.
After the death of ‘Gentil Duarte’ in Venezuela in May 2022, ‘Iván Mordisco’ assumed the leadership of the dissident fronts that were under his command.
The Colombian Defense Minister congratulated himself on having eliminated the last “great leader of the FARC dissidents,” explaining that the guerrilla’s alleged plan was to “expand with 8,000 armed men.”
Towards a progressive disintegration of the dissidences?
The outgoing minister, Diego Molano, assured that with this operation “the final blow is given to the dissidents,” according to a publication by the Ministry of Defense on its Twitter account.
With the Jupiter operation against alias ‘Iván Mordisco’ the last great leader of the Farc falls and the final blow is given to the dissidents. pic.twitter.com/hQZIqw8pWU
– Diego Molano Aponte (@Diego_Molano) July 15, 2022
Two dissidences of the FARC, that of ‘Mordisco’ and its rival, the Second Marquetalia, compete with each other and with other armed groups for control of illicit activities between Colombia and Venezuela.
In recent months, the fight against dissidence has accelerated, with several leaders of the Second Marquetalia, including aliases ‘Jesús Santrich’, ‘Paisa’, ‘Romaña’ and ‘Gentil Duarte’ dying in confusing circumstances in the area. border of Venezuela and Colombia.
However, the commander of the Second Marquetalia, Iván Márquez, who was a negotiator in the peace talks before rejecting the agreement, survived a recent attack in Venezuela and is currently in a hospital in Caracas, according to the Colombian Armed Forces.
The government of the outgoing Colombian president, Iván Duque, accuses the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, of hosting and protecting these armed groups, something that Maduro denies.
With EFE, Reuters and international media
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