Colombian forces kill FARC dissident leader Nestor Vera in a raid

Bogota, Colombia: Colombian forces have killed top FARC dissident leader Nestor Vera in a raid the government said Friday had dealt the “final blow” to the movement. Vera, aka Ivan Mordisco, died with nine other rebels in a raid in the country’s southwest last week, according to Defense Minister Diego Molano. “The last major leader of the FARC has fallen and a final blow has been dealt to the dissidents,” the minister told reporters. Hundreds of dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, have continued fighting after their comrades lay down arms under a 2016 peace accord that ended more than half a century of armed conflict. Vera, one of Colombia’s most wanted men, recently took command of a group of some 2,000 dissidents, the so-called Armando Rios front, after the presumed death of leader “Gentil Duarte.” Colombian intelligence believes Duarte died in fighting with a drug gang in neighboring Venezuela in May. A reward of $700,000 had been on offer for information on the whereabouts of Vera, one of Colombia’s most wanted men. According to General Luis Fernando Navarro, some 500 soldiers were deployed in the Colombian jungle several weeks ago on a mission to find Vera, who was ultimately killed with his comrades in an air force-led operation on 8 July. ‘Fundamental blow’ His nine companions included Vera’s partner, known as “Lorena,” and two other women. Just months before the 2016 agreement was signed, Vera became the first FARC leader to renounce the peace process with several of his subordinates. Despite the agreement, Colombia has seen a flare-up of violence due to fighting over territory and resources among the dissidents, the hold-out ELN rebel group, paramilitary forces and drug cartels. The government says Vera and his fighters were engaged in a fierce dispute over drug trafficking routes with another dissident faction called Segunda Marquetalia, led by former FARC chief Ivan Marquez. Marquez had signed the 2016 peace pact only to take up arms again, in 2019. Bogota says Marquez was injured in a recent attack in Venezuela, and is hospitalized there, though Caracas insists this is mere speculation. “Today in Colombia there are none of the leaders, the big capos of the former FARC… it is a fundamental blow to the plans they had for regeneration,” Molano said after Vera’s death. Police released a photo of a green beret with a red star pin and hammer-and-sickle which is presumed to have belonged to the late dissident and was found in the area of operation. “The structure of ‘Ivan Mordisco’ was one of the worst threats to Colombia, and has been destroyed by the heroes of our security forces,” President Ivan Duque said on Twitter. With no unified command, FARC dissident fighters are thought to number some 5,200 scattered around the country, according to the Indepaz monitoring group. They are financed mainly by drug trafficking and illegal mining. More than 80 per cent are new recruits who were never FARC members, according to Indepaz. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.