Someone Killed a Legendary Colombian Rebel Leader--and Cut Off His Pinky [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

The controversial former-FARC leader was wanted on drug charges in the US and had a $10 million bounty on his head. Foes in Colombia, Venezuela and rival criminal factions all wanted him dead.
JC
By Joshua Collins
May 19, 2021, 1:59pm

BOGOTA, Colombia-- A former commander of Colombia’s rebels, an accused cocaine trafficker who signed the country’s 2016 peace accord only to walk away from a Senate seat and declare war again on the country with which he had negotiated peace, was killed Tuesday.

The death of Jesús Santrich, who spent almost 30 years in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was confirmed Tuesday evening by the rebel splinter group he commanded in the border region of Venezuela.

In its announcement, the group, Segunda Marquetalia, blamed Colombian special forces which it said had crossed the border illegally into Venezuela to ambush Santrich’s security detail in the border department of Zulia. They killed him with grenades and small arms fire before removing his pinky finger and returning to Colombia in a yellow helicopter, the group said.

Colombian authorities have yet to confirm Santrich’s death, other than a statement by the Defense Minister that the government was trying to confirm rumors he had been killed during a confrontation between armed groups near the border.

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https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7ed5y/someone-killed-a-legendary-colombian-rebel-leaderand-cut-off-his-pinky