Colombia says it is investigating presumed death of Farc leader

The Colombian government announced Tuesday, May 18

on the presumed death in Venezuela of Jesus Santrich, one of the leaders of the former Colombian guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), who had participated in the peace negotiations of 2016. On Twitter, the Minister of Defense Diego Molano indicates that Santrich

with

during

. It specifies:

. But underlines that

. According to the magazine

,

confirmed Santrich's death during fighting

.

Read also: Colombia: where is the peace process with the Farc?

Wanted by the United States for drug trafficking, Seuxis Hernandez Solarte, said Jesus Santrich, 54, famous for his dark glasses hiding his visual impairment, had taken up arms in 2019 three years after having been one of the actors of the peace agreements of 2016. With Ivan Marquez, the head of the negotiators of the Farc, he had set up a dissidence nicknamed the “second Marquetalia”, allusion to the “Marquetalia”, an autonomous zone created in Colombia between 1958 and 1964 and considered as the point of birth of the Farc.

Contradictory versions

Before joining the bush, Santrich had been accused by the United States of drug trafficking. He was arrested in 2018 with the aim of extraditing him but the Colombian Supreme Court had ordered his release in 2019. He has always denied the accusations speaking of

. Washington has offered up to $ 10 million for his capture and that of Marquez.

A press release signed by the "Second Marquetalia" but whose veracity has not been established for the moment, accuses Bogota, assuring that Santrich was killed in

in Venezuelan territory in the Serrania de Perija (north of the Andes Cordillera).

, according to the text.

Read also: Colombia: Farc take up arms again

According to the Venezuelan NGO Fundaredes, very critical of the power of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on the other hand, it is a question of internal fights between dissidents of the Farc.

Although most of the 13,000 members of the former Marxist guerrilla have laid down their arms, “dissident” factions have not accepted the peace process signed in 2016 in Colombia.

These groups without a unified command, financed by drug trafficking and clandestine mines, have strengthened in isolated areas, according to Colombian military intelligence.

Despite 2,200 kilometers of common border, Venezuela and Colombia no longer have diplomatic relations since Bogota recognized the opponent Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela in 2019. Relations between the two neighbors, ideologically opposed, are very tense .