They confirm the death of the main leader of the FARC dissidents

First modification: 07/16/2022 – 13:51

“The last great leader of the FARC falls and a final blow is given to the dissidents,” Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano told the press regarding the operation to kill Néstor Vera alias Iván mordisco.

Mordisco was not part of the Havana (Cuba) Talks Table, in which the Peace Agreements were negotiated to end more than 50 years of conflict between the Colombian State and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

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Minister Molano recalled that this individual had “a criminal record of more than 30 years in the south of the country and had become a scourge in terms of terrorist attacks, forced displacement and criminal activity of drug trafficking and criminal activity especially in murder. of social leaders.

For several weeks, 500 members of the public force have been looking for him in the jungle of the department of Caquetá, southwestern Colombia. He would have died on July 8 along with 9 other people, including his sentimental partner alias Lorena.

The police released a photo of a green beret with a red star brooch and a hammer and sickle symbol that was found in the area of ​​the operation and would have belonged to the late guerrilla leader.

Blow to the “refoundation”

Mordisco assumed command of almost 2,000 rebels after the alleged death of alias ‘Gentil Duarte’, who led the so-called Southeastern Bloc of dissidence until the end of May, when he fell in Venezuela during a fight with a drug gang, according to Colombian intelligence. .

According to the government, this group is in the midst of a fierce dispute over drug trafficking routes with another dissident faction called Segunda Marquetalia, led by former FARC chief Iván Márquez, who was part of the agreement before taking up arms in 2019. .

Colombia maintains that Márquez was recently the target of an attack in Venezuela and is badly injured in a hospital in that country. Caracas assures that this version is a “speculation”

Without a unified command, the dissidents add up to some 5,200 militants distributed in different regions of the country, according to the NGO Indepaz, and they finance themselves mainly from drug trafficking and the illegal exploitation of gold and other minerals.

The majority (85%) are new recruits who were never in the defunct rebel organization, according to the same source.

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with AFP