• Venezuela.Nicolás Maduro proposes chicken coops and school gardens to tackle the food crisis
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They look at him with mistrust, they don't want to have Iván Márquez as the supreme boss, who only recently again took up arms. Especially when many commanders are well established in their territories , in command of small but effective armies, with a good number of young people eager to play Rambos, and making money from drug trafficking and illegal mining.

That resistance to form a single FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army) as Márquez claims, is precisely the one that Nicolás Maduro wants to break , determined to make him leader in the dissidence in Colombia from Venezuela, according to information of police intelligence to which EL MUNDO had access. That is why he pressures those who left the peace process a couple of years ago or never were in it, whose most visible head is Gentil Duarte .

"The Venezuelan authorities have sent a message: those who commit crimes at the border should talk to Iván Márquez . They provide him with the means to move around Venezuela without problems and make it easier for him to get weapons . If they do not, they will start operating against them. "they point out. And a source from the bowels of the dissent, who spoke with this newspaper, confirmed that "they have meetings with the GNB (Bolivarian National Guard) to supply weapons of all levels. And Márquez is the one who has relations with the Maduro government." .

The ultimate goal is to form a single armed structure but, for the moment, they intend to seal agreements with Gentil Duarte and other groups that were from the FARC. And, at the same time, to specify the collaboration with the ELN leaders , also sheltered in Venezuelan soil under the wing of Chavismo. "They are looking for alliances to try to strengthen their presence in Colombia," says General Óscar Atehortúa, General Director of the National Police.

In the meetings convened by Márquez , Duarte goes to Iván Mordisco and John 40 , his two main cards. The latter controls illegal gold mining in Venezuela , whose benefits it shares with the Chavista government. On the part of the ELN, they talk to Pablito , perhaps the most bloodthirsty and powerful, who moves between the two countries, and with Antonio García , who has become a bureaucrat who has lived in Venezuela for five years.

But not only does it intend to strengthen the new FARC-EP with alliances. Also, according to the person who knows their movements, with recruits litters. The last, precise, has just left a training course at the La Ganadera farm, in Rio de Oro, Catatumbo region, near the Venezuelan border. Of these, 60% are Venezuelans and some belonged to violent gangs in their home country. Now, however, "once they are disciplined, they are brave and loyal fighters, they do not twist, and there are already squadron commanders (the first step of command)," he adds. They will receive a salary of around 700,000 thousand pesos (about 180 euros), one of the biggest differences compared to the former FARC where the guerrillas had no income.

In what they have not varied, it is in the age of admission. According to a social leader who asks for anonymity, " there are complaints of children under 12 and 13 years old , indigenous in many cases." And to avoid violations, each new member opens a card with the picture of his whole family. Thus they know that if they desert or become informants of the FFMM, they will take revenge with theirs.

Some enlisted will remain in the border areas and others will be sent to different parts of the country. " Márquez wants to resurrect the old guerrilla, overcome the FARC before, with the same goal of achieving power " in the future, either through a candidate of his own or with someone from a different party that they support. And he leaves El Paisa , a seasoned and feared terrorist, the military headquarters. " Venezuela helps them because they believe that if something happens one day, they would have them on their side, " General Atehortúa says.

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  • FARC
  • Venezuela
  • Colombia
  • National Police
  • Nicolás Maduro
  • Terrorism

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