The guerrilla chief Néstor Gregorio Vera Fernández, alias “Iván Mordisco”, died last weekend in a military operation in the Colombian department of Caquetá (south), with which “a final blow is given to the dissidents” of the FARC , as he said this Friday defense ministerDiego Molano.
Last Sunday, the Army reported that ten guerrillas from a FARC dissidence died in a joint operation between the Military Forces and the Police in a rural area of San Vicente del Caguán (Caquetá), and now Molano confirms the action in which alias “Iván Mordisco” fell.
We promised to end the #SymbolsOfEvil and we are complying.
Alias ’Iván Mordisco’, narco-terrorist, ecocide, murderer of social leaders, lasted 20 years at the head of FARC structures and had assumed the terrorist reins of ‘Gentil Duarte’, after his death in Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/umZpWbP9x6
– Diego Molano Aponte (@Diego_Molano) July 15, 2022
“This operation, which allows the neutralization of nine individuals from that first front of the FARC dissidents and the neutralization of alias ‘Iván Mordisco’, also allows us to point out that this is an operation in which the last great leader of the FARC falls. FARC and a final blow is given to the dissidents”, said Minister Molano in a press conference in Bogotá quoted by Eph.
The head of the Defense portfolio added that with the results of “Operation Jupiter” and other actions against dissidents, the “refounding of the FARC” was avoided because the plan of the dejected guerrilla chief was to “expand with 8,000 armed men,” by while he recalled that alias “Iván Mordisco” never entered the Havana agreement, signed in 2016 between the Colombian government and the then FARC guerrilla.
Molano said that the guerrilla leader who died “was a scourge for the south of the country in terms of terrorist attacks, displacement, drug trafficking and the murder of social leaders.” This illegal armed group is also held responsible for the murder of nine soldiers in a rural area of San José del Guaviare in July 2021, among other crimes.
CRIMINAL RECORD
According to the organized crime investigation center InSight Crime, alias “Iván Mordisco” was “one of the main criminal actors in southern Colombia.” His power resided “in commanding the dissidence of Front 1, which has a presence in Guaviare, Vaupés and Vichada, and has approximately 400 members,” the research center points out.
The criminal actions of “Iván Mordisco” began about 20 years ago, when he joined the now demobilized FARC guerrilla, where he began as a low-level guerrilla, but later specialized as a sniper and later was an explosives expert.
By 2012, he was already the commander of Front 1 and continued to obey the orders of the FARC command, although his criticism of the peace talks between the guerrillas and the Colombian government in Cuba increased over time.
The now dejected guerrilla leader was captured in 2015 by the Army in the town of Miraflores (Guaviare) but later regained his freedom in an episode that is still unclear.
Subsequently, his disagreements with the FARC commanders intensified and he did not accept the peace agreement, after which he reported in a letter that he would not hand over his weapons while calling all the “guerrillas, guerrillas, militiamen and militiawomen” who were not in agreement with the peace process to “join forces” and “continue the insurgent struggle”.
Colombian government investigates possible death of Iván Márquez
Due to these statements, “Iván Mordisco” not only became the first dissident commander, but also became one of the most dangerous dissidents in the south of the country.
In recent months, several leaders of another FARC dissidence, the so-called “Second Marquetalia”, including the aliases “Jesús Santrich”, “el Paisa”, “Romaña” and “Gentil Duarte” died in confusing circumstances in the area Venezuela’s border with Colombia, where they have found refuge, according to the government of President Iván Duque.
Meanwhile, after announcing the possible death of the top leader of the FARC dissidents Luciano Marín Arango, alias Iván Márquez, at the beginning of this week it was learned that he survived the attack in Venezuela after which he was considered liquidated.
Efe/OnCuba.
