Hernan Dario Velasquez was a negotiator in 2016 peace settlement, however introduced three years later he had rearmed.
A former chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who rearmed within the wake of a 2016 peace settlement between the group and the Colombian authorities, has been killed in Venezuela, in response to native media.
Hernan Dario Velasquez, generally known as El Paisa (the Peasant), introduced in 2019 that he and a number of other well-known FARC commanders have been rearming and forming a faction known as Segunda Marquetalia. Velazquez had been among the many negotiators of the 2016 peace deal.
He was killed in an assault by mercenaries looking for to money in on rewards obtainable for his seize, Colombian media reported on Sunday. The killing befell within the state of Apure close to the border with Colombia, in response to studies.
Neither Colombia nor Venezuela has acknowledged Velasquez’s dying, though El Tiempo newspaper cited high-level sources who denied the Colombian authorities was concerned.
Colombian President Ivan Duque has lengthy accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of sheltering and defending FARC dissidents, however Caracas has repeatedly denied the accusations.
An Interpol crimson discover, which features as a sort of worldwide arrest warrant obliging member international locations – together with Venezuela – to arrest and extradite felony suspects, was reissued for Velasquez earlier this 12 months.
Velasquez had been linked to a number of high-profile assaults, together with a automotive bombing that killed 36 individuals and wounded dozens of others in February 2003 in Bogota.
Some 13,000 fighters have surrendered their arms since FARC rebels reached the 2016 peace cope with Bogota. About 5,000 have rejected the deal.
In keeping with the Indepaz analysis institute, roughly 90 armed teams with some 10,000 members stay lively in Colombia.
Final week, america lifted its designation of FARC as a “terrorist organisation”, whereas including two splinter teams – Segunda Marquetalia and FARC-EP – to the designation.
Chatting with native media final week, Ivan Marquetalia, the highest commander of Seguna Marquetalia, known as on the Colombian authorities to have interaction in talks with all armed teams working within the nation, saying the federal government ought to search “full peace”.