Analysis: The Colombian guerrillas’ internal war being fought on Venezuelan soil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – At least 5 top ELN and FARC dissident leaders have allegedly died in Venezuela at the hands of their own former comrades, the most recent of whom was reportedly Jesús Santrich.

Since 2019, rumors that members of the Colombian guerrillas had moved to the Venezuelan border began to gain strength because when Jesús Santrich and Iván Márquez escaped months later, Semana magazine released photos showing the leaders together with a group of dissidents in Aupe, Venezuela.

This had been going on for a long time, more or less dating back to 2004 when Álvaro Uribe Vélez and Hugo Chávez were their countries’ presidents.

But it was finally confirmed in March 2021, after clashes between the Venezuelan Army and Colombian armed groups, causing a great displacement in the border and denunciations of human rights violations, among other issues.

Two months later the clashes continue and after over 40 years of irregular entry into the country, today it is safe to say that Colombian guerrilla groups are permanently installed in Venezuela, as confirmed by several organizations monitoring the area.

The decision to have camps on the Venezuelan side of the border, according to some experts, is due to the fact that they can gain military advantage and it would be difficult for Colombian authorities to capture them, as entering another country could be a violation of its sovereignty. In addition, as mentioned by Nicolás Maduro’s opposition, the Venezuelan president may have given them some guarantees and support.

However, over time this area has become a battlefield between dissidents and the ELN over territorial power, drug trafficking routes, broken alliances with neighboring military personnel, and even personal vendettas.

To better understand the context, it is important to point out that this area of Arauca has historically been a territory where illegal armed groups have established themselves. There are currently 17 criminal organizations, between guerrillas and paramilitaries and, according to El País de Cali, in addition to the ELN, there are now three major dissident structures with a presence in both Colombia and Venezuela.

One of the dissident groups is led by Miguel Botache Santillana, aka Gentil Duarte, and Néstor Gregorio Vera Fernández, aka Iván Mordisco. Another, known as the ‘rearmados’ (rearmed groups), self-styled as ‘La Segunda Marquetalia’ who joined the peace process, but later abandoned it. They are led by Luciano Marín, aka Iván Márquez’; Henry Castellanos Garzón, aka Romaña; Hernán Darío Velásquez, aka ‘Paisa’, and by ‘Jesús Santrich’, who was killed last week. And the rest are known as “Las disidencias dispersas” (The Dispersed Dissidences).

But contrary to what was believed – that these groups were completely safe on the Venezuelan border – the fact is that the war has been relocated and a battleground has been created, where five confirmed deaths of leaders have been registered.

For example, Alias Alberto, ex-leader of the Domingo Lain front, was killed in a rural area of Apure by his comrades in arms on August 14, 2020. The murder was allegedly ordered by aka Pablito, a member of the central command and the ELN’s most important military commander, after he was found guilty of using guerrilla money to buy property in Venezuela.

The next was the second most important man of the Domingo Lain front, aka Sierra, who managed the organization’s finances and was killed in September 2020 by his own comrades in Tres Esquinas, Apure, for appropriating the organization’s money. And the third was aka Guaneche, the commander of the Che Guevara commission, a substructure of the Domingo Lain front.

Finally, the leader who executed all the deaths within his organization, aka Pablito, according to military information, was killed in Venezuela in early January of 2021. His own men are said to have betrayed him to collect the 4 billion pesos reward offered by the Colombian government; however, the guerrillas assert that this is not the case, despite the fact that there has been no information on the subject since the beginning of the year.

Regarding FARC dissidents, the most recent and most talked about death was that of Jesús Santrich, killed a few days ago; his executor’s identity is still uncertain. The other was Olivio Merchán Gómez, alias “El Loco Iván,” who died in November 2020, in the middle of a clash with the Venezuelan armed forces in the state of Bolívar, in the Orinoquía region.

Source: Infobae