A former guerrilla member of the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) died Thursday in the heart of the city of Buenos Aires after being shot by police during a demonstration. Facundo Molares, an Argentine ex-combatant whose extradition was requested by Colombia, suffered cardiac arrest during a fight with agents trying to disperse the mobilization, according to the capital’s SAME emergency services. “Resuscitation maneuvers were performed until death was confirmed. The causes of death are related to cardiac arrest due to risk factors. “The body was transferred to the morgue for the appropriate autopsy,” the statement said. The protest at the obelisk ignited after the death.
Molares fought for the FARC for 15 years and laid down his arms in the middle of the peace process. He then resurfaced in Bolivia, where he had been imprisoned for almost a year, and flew to Buenos Aires in 2020 on a plane sent by the Alberto Fernández government. In November 2021, Argentine police arrested him in Trevelin, a small tourist town in Patagonia. , following a red alert from Interpol. The request came from Colombia, a country that wants to take Molares to court over the kidnapping of city councilor Armando Acuña on May 29, 2009 in an area then under FARC control.
The 47-year-old demonstrated this Thursday at the obelisk in a protest called for by left-wing political groups and social organizations “against the election farce”. The protest, which received only a small call, came three days after the country’s primary elections to determine the presidential candidates for October’s general election. “The troops advanced on the demonstrators on the esplanade of Plaza de la República and started beating them. Then they locked her on the ground,” the human rights organization Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) wrote in a statement.
“We finished the performance and deconcentrated. Cops come to evict us. There they arrest a comrade. If a comrade is arrested, we get him out and everyone comes to oppress us. In this situation, they arrest four other compañeros and Facundo Molares, who will be compensated,” one of the protesters told Télam news agency. In images collected from those present, the man is seen face down on the ground, red-faced and minutes later police attempt to revive him. The four arrested were taken to the police station, while Morales was taken to hospital “without vital signs,” according to witnesses.
The authorities of the city of Buenos Aires, ruled by Horacio Rodríguez Larreta of the centre-right coalition Juntos por el Cambio, who is presenting himself as the presidential candidate in his party’s primaries this Sunday, told national media that it was the man reduced when trying to “light an urn”. Molares’ death comes a day after the violent death of an 11-year-old girl in a city in Buenos Aires province paralyzed election campaigns in Argentina. Political and social organizations have called for a demonstration for the death of the former guerrilla fighter this Friday morning.
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