The main dissident leader of the ex-guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), Nestor Vera, alias "Ivan Mordisco", was killed by the army along with nine other rebels in the southwest of the country, announced Friday, July 15 the Minister of Defense.

"This operation has allowed the neutralization of nine individuals on this first front of FARC dissidence and the neutralization of the one nicknamed Ivan Mordisco," Minister Diego Molano told the press.

"The last great leader of Farc has fallen and it's a final blow to dissidence," added the minister.

For several weeks, about 500 soldiers had been deployed in the department of Caqueta (southwest) to locate Nestor Vera, who recently took command of the dissident after the alleged death of another rebel leader, Gentil Duarte, said the Commander of the Armed Forces, General Luis Fernando Navarro. 

On July 8, the military launched "a strategic operation with the main support of the air force", added the general.

In July 2016, four months before the signing of the historic peace accord that ended nearly 60 years of conflict, Nestor Vera became the first Farc leader to abandon the peace process with other rebels.

The Colombian government offered a $700,000 reward for any information leading to his whereabouts.

At the end of May, the government reported the "presumed death" of Gentil Duarte, whose real name was Miguel Botache Santillana, one of the main dissident leaders of the former Farc guerrillas, killed in early May in Venezuela.

The latter had participated in the peace negotiations in Havana which had led to the signing of the agreement, before returning to the maquis.

According to the government, Nestor Vera was at the center of a bitter struggle for control of drug trafficking routes with another breakaway faction, led by Ivan Marquez, who signed the peace accord before taking up arms again in 2019. 

Bogota maintains that Ivan Marquez was recently the victim of an attack in Venezuela where he would be hospitalized.

Caracas evokes "speculations". 

"Today there are no longer any of the chiefs, great commanders, that the Farc had in Colombia (...) It is a fundamental blow to their project of refoundation", added Minister Diego Molano.

Without a unified command, the Farc dissident groups have about 5,200 men in different regions of the country, according to the NGO Indepaz, and finance themselves through drug trafficking and clandestine mines. 

The majority of these men (85%) are new recruits who have never been part of FARC, according to the same source. 

With AFP

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