Jesús Santrich dies at the hands of Colombia, FARC dissidents say

The dissident faction of the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) confirmed on Tuesday the death of Seuxis Paucias Hernández Solarte, alias "Jesús Santrich''.

By means of a communiqué on the Farc Ep website, the Nueva Marquetalia group, headed by "Jesús Santrich" and Luciano Marín Arango, alias "Iván Márquez", stated that the death occurred at the hands of the Colombian Army, "an ambush carried out by commandos of the Colombian Army on 17 May". They added that "they entered on the direct orders of President Iván Duque".

The Colombian government has not yet confirmed the death of the dissident leader, however, the Minister of Defence made a statement hours before the communiqué, with the aim of "verifying" the intelligence reports that report the alleged killing of Jesús Santrich. "Intelligence information indicates that in alleged clashes that took place yesterday in Venezuela, alias "Santrich" and other criminals were killed," said Diego Molano, Minister of Defence, on his Twitter account.

This event has further intensified the discourse against Venezuela, as stated by the Colombian minister, assuring that the alleged murder would prove that "narco-criminals take refuge in Venezuela". Neither the government of Iván Duque nor the regime of Nicolás Maduro have confirmed the situation, which could lead to an escalation of tension between the two countries. Venezuela could claim violation of its sovereignty by denying that there are FARC members on its territory, and the Colombian government could again denounce the alleged protectionism of drug traffickers in Venezuela.

He was born in Sucre in 1967 into a household of two schoolteachers. He studied social sciences and did a postgraduate degree in history at the Universidad del Atlántico, where he acquired the pseudonym "Jesús Santrich", taken from a university friend who was shot by an agent of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), reports El Tiempo.

"Santrich was known for wearing a Palestinian scarf over his shoulders and dark glasses because he suffered from Leber's syndrome, a degenerative disease that affects the optic nerve", he explained in a 2018 interview with Caracol's Los Informantes, according to RT.

He joined the FARC in the early 1990s and was a member of the FARC's Central General Staff and one of the heads of the guerrilla group's Caribbean Bloc, along with Luciano Marín Arango, known by his alias 'Iván Márquez'.

He participated as a member of the FARC at the negotiating table with the Colombian government in Cuba, which led to the signing of the Peace Agreement in 2016, with which the FARC would lay down its arms and the FARC would become a political party, called the Revolutionary Alternative Force of the Common to keep its acronym, explains RT.

But in April 2018 "Santrich" was arrested in Colombia under an international arrest warrant by the US Department of Justice to stand trial for various crimes. However, his extradition was not carried out because he is under the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).

After the creation of La Marquetalia, together with "Iván Márquez", he lost the protection of the JEP when he left Colombia without authorisation, a month before announcing his return to the path of armed struggle in August 2019. "He made a decision that marked his legacy: he escaped to go into the jungles of the country and rearm", notes the newspaper El Tiempo.

Recently, Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice approved the extradition of "Santrich" to the United States, which wanted him for his alleged involvement in several drug trafficking-related crimes. In a statement, the court justified its decision on the grounds that "the acts of criminal conspiracy and drug trafficking with which he is charged abroad have no political connotation", according to the Europa Press agency.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has indicted "Santrich" for allegedly trafficking cocaine to the U.S. with the help of his companions Marlon Marín and Fabio Younes Arboleda. For its part, the US State Department offered a reward of 10 million dollars for anyone who could provide information on the suspects. Meanwhile, the International Police (Interpol) had also issued a red notice to locate and arrest "Jesús Santrich". 
 

Latin America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.