FARC dissident leader 'Gentil Duarte' murdered in Venezuela

The head of one of the main FARC dissidents, Miguel Botache Santanilla, known as "Gentil Duarte," was killed in Venezuela by an explosive attack on his camp, local media reported Wednesday.

The murder took place after a group of the so-called "Pisasuaves" of the Segunda Marquetalia located a powerful explosive charge in the camp where the drug trafficker was hiding in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, reported Semana.

However, other Colombian media reported that the attack was carried out by the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas.

"Gentil Duarte," one of Colombia's most wanted men, came to be at the negotiating table of the Havana Peace Accords. However, he was one of the first leaders to walk away from the agreement prior to its signing in 2016, when he founded the first dissidence group that has been growing, and that yearns to reorganize the FARC back into blocs as it had before.

The 56-year-old, who joined the FARC when he was a minor, had been waging war in this border area for more than a year and a half with the ELN and the Second Marquetalia, commanded by fellow guerrilla Ivan Marquez.

Semana revealed images of the camp where Duarte was staying at before he was allegedly attacked by the men of Segunda Marquetalia.

The photographs show the rudimentary way in which they lived in Venezuela. They had water tanks, beds made of mud, sticks, and plastic, and tarpaulins to cover themselves from the rain. They also had made several holes to which they gave multiple functions.

Following a July 2021 army bombing of a dissident camp in San Vicente del Caguán, in the south of the country, which killed several minors, the leader of the dissidents moved to the Venezuelan border, according to local media.

Both the "Second Marquetalia" and the group led by "Gentil Duarte" were included last November on the U.S. blacklist of terrorist groups after the FARC was removed from the list.

The fall of "Gentil Duarte" comes a year after the Colombian government claimed to have information about the death of Seuxis Paucias Hernandez Solarte, alias "Jesus Santrich," one of the leaders of the FARC dissidents, in a confrontation in Venezuela between groups.

Also killed in Venezuela were Henry Castellanos, alias "Romaña," and Hernán Darío Velásquez, alias "El paisa," considered the two most bloodthirsty leaders of the former FARC guerrillas.