Hernan Dario Velasquez, leader of one of the rebel groups of the former FARC rebel organization, which rejected the 2016 peace agreement, was killed in an ambush in Venezuela, Colombian media reported on Sunday.
Velasquez, also known as nom de guerre “El Paisa”, was once a unit commander of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). He and other well-known rebel leaders announced in 2019 that they were taking up arms again and founding the Segunda Marquetalia (“Second Marketing” organization, referring to a historic episode of the civil war that led to the founding of the FARC).
Velasquez allegedly fell dead in an ambush set by mercenaries in order to collect the money for the arrest warrant, according to the newspaper El Tiempo.
The newspaper, citing unnamed senior government and military officials, wrote that the Colombian army had no involvement in the operation, which it said was carried out in the Venezuelan state of Apure.
Neither the Colombian Ministry of Defense nor the Venezuelan Ministry of Intelligence responded immediately when asked by Reuters to comment on the information.
A spokesman for Colombian President Ivan Duque has limited himself to saying that Bogota is trying to gather information about Velasquez’s alleged death. The chief of the national defense staff and the Colombian police chief said they had no information other than what was published in the media.
The duo’s government on the far right often accuses Socialist President Nicolas Maduro of offering shelter and protection to FARC dissidents. Caracas denies it.
Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano argues that the cause of the fighting that broke out between the Venezuelan army and Colombian armed groups earlier this year, displacing thousands of civilians, was the control of drug trafficking routes.
A red Interpol warrant – an international arrest warrant – was issued for Hernan Dario Velasquez earlier this year.
Last week, Ivan Marquez, head of Segunda Marquetalia, demanded that the Colombian government resume talks with all armed groups in order to achieve “full peace” in the Andean country. Bogota rejected it (25001675).
The INDEPAZ institute estimates that Second Marketing has about 2,000 fighters. The Colombian government, for its part, estimates it has around 2,400.
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