- Title: Colombia's police confirm death of rebel dissident leader in Venezuela
- Date: 7th December 2021
- Summary: MOERS, GERMANY (DECEMBER 7, 2021) (REUTERS) LIGHTS BEING TURNED ON IN FRONT GARDEN OF LEON SCHEEPERS' HOUSE CAMERA MOVES THROUGH GARDEN LIGHTS AND CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS VARIOUS OF SCHEEPERS LOOKING ON WITH HUGE SIGN HANGING IN WINDOW, READING (German): "The Moers Christmas house has to stay shut and dark this year! we wish you a happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.!" (SOU
- Embargoed: 21st December 2021 20:41
- Keywords: Colombia El Paisa FARC Hernan Dario Velasquez Venezuela dissident group rebels
- Location: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION / JUNGLE, ALPS & BOGOTA, COLOMBIA / HAVANA, CUBA
- City: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION / JUNGLE, ALPS & BOGOTA, COLOMBIA / HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,South America / Central America
- Reuters ID: LVA003F71IATJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Colombia's police on Tuesday (December 7) confirmed the death in Venezuela of a top commander belonging to a group of former rebels who rearmed following a 2016 peace deal, saying he was killed during a drug trafficking dispute.
Hernan Dario Velasquez, known as 'El Paisa', is a former member of the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.
In 2019, He and several other well-known commanders announced they were rearming and forming a faction called Segunda Marquetalia.
Colombian media reported over the weekend that Velasquez was killed in the Venezuelan border state of Apure.
The location had been his base camp for more than two years, Colombian national police director General Jorge Luis Vargas told journalists.
"So far there is a very, very high probability that he is dead. That it was due to criminal disputes within the organization, in the encampment area of Venezuela," Vargas said.
According to Vargas, intelligence sources have told the police thousands of dollars in drug trafficking profits were hidden at the camp where Velasquez died.
The police are also investigating rumors that another well-known Segunda Marquetalia commander, Henry Castellanos Garzon, who uses the alias 'Romana', was also recently killed, Vargas confirmed.
Velasquez once led the FARC's feared Teofilo Forero unit and stood accused of massacres, kidnappings and large-scale attacks like the bombing of the exclusive El Nogal club in Bogota in 2003, when 39 people died and 200 were injured.
The government of Colombian President Ivan Duque accuses Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of sheltering and protecting FARC dissidents, but Caracas has repeatedly denied the accusations.
Another FARC dissident group, led by alias Gentil Duarte, battles with Segunda Marquetalia for control of drug trafficking routes and cocaine production areas, security sources say.
Dissident groups count some 2,400 fighters in their ranks, according to the Colombian government.
The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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