For several weeks, around 500 soldiers have been deployed in the Caqueta department to try to locate Nestor Vera.
The Colombian government announced on Friday July 15 the death of the main leader of the dissident ex-guerrilla FARC. Nestor Vera, aka “Ivan Mordisco”, was killed by the army a week ago along with nine other rebels in the southwest of the country. The Secretary of Defense hailed the “final push” given to this armed group. “This operation has enabled the neutralization of nine people on this first front of FARC dissidence and the neutralization of the one nicknamed Ivan Mordisco,” said Diego Molano. “The last great leader of the FARC has fallen and this is a final blow to dissidence,” the minister added.
Informers worked with the army
Around 500 soldiers have been deployed in the Caqueta department for several weeks to locate Nestor Vera, said the commander of the armed forces, General Luis Fernando Navarro. On July 8, the military launched “a strategic operation with mainly air support,” he added. Ten rebels were killed, including Nestor Vera and four of his relatives, including his partner and two other women, he said. Police produced a photo of a green beret adorned with a red star and the hammer-and-sickle symbol found at the site of the operation and believed to belong to the rebel leader.
“The structure, nicknamed ‘Ivan Mordisco’, posed one of the worst threats to Colombia and was destroyed by the heroes of our army,” said President Ivan Duque.
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Nestor Vera, whose age authorities did not say, had recently taken command of the dissidence following the alleged death of another rebel leader, Gentil Duarte. He fought in the rebellion for 35 years, the defense secretary said. The Colombian government had offered a $700,000 reward for any information leading to his whereabouts. Whistle-blowers worked with the army and received the promised reward, Police Director General Jorge Luis Vargas said.
“Fundamental Strike”
In July 2016, four months before signing the historic peace deal that ended nearly 60 years of conflict, Nestor Vera became the first FARC leader to break off the peace process with other rebels. He then began recruiting new fighters to take control of forested areas in southeastern Colombia, the world’s largest exporter of cocaine. The army accused the rebel leader of organizing drug shipments to Venezuela and Brazil.
Authorities also accuse him of ordering dozens of attacks on security forces, forcibly relocating populations and killing social leaders, and kidnapping a UN official for two months in 2017. In late May, the government announced the “presumed death” of Gentil Duarte, whose real name was Miguel Botache Santillana, one of the former guerrilla’s key dissident leaders, who was killed in Venezuela in early May.
No more FARC leaders in Colombia
According to the government, Nestor Vera was embroiled in a bitter struggle for control of drug trafficking routes with another breakaway faction, led by Ivan Marquez, who signed the peace deal before taking up arms again in 2019. Bogota claims that “Ivan Marquez was recently the victim of an attack in Venezuela where he would be hospitalized. Caracas arouses “speculation”. “Today there are none of the leaders, great commanders that the FARC had in Colombia (…) It is a fundamental blow to their re-establishment project,” Minister Molano added.
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According to the NGO Indepaz, without a unified command, the FARC dissident groups have around 5,200 men in various regions of the country and are financed by drug trafficking and secret mines. The majority of these men (85%) are new recruits who, according to the same source, have never been members of the FARC.