Chef dissident of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), now dissolved, Ivan Mordisco, fled last week into the Amazon rainforest.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the country’s most wanted guerrilla leader of corrupting army members to escape military bombings.
Mordisco escaped to the Amazon forest, dodging an army attack that killed six of his close collaborators in the southeast of the country, according to the government. Authorities believe he was on site shortly before.
“Ivan Mordisco pays the commanders who are supposed to arrest him, so he dodges the bombings, but lets his own people die. He is warned before every bombing,” Gustavo Petro stated on network X.
One of Colombia’s biggest criminals
According to local press, among the six victims of the military attack was Mordisco’s partner and mother of his son. The main faction of the Marxist guerrilla FARC laid down arms after signing a peace agreement in 2016, but dissident groups opposing this agreement continue to clash with security forces.
Once a low-ranking intermediary figure at the time when he rejected the peace agreement that was signed, Nestor Gregorio Vera, known as Ivan Mordisco, has become one of the biggest criminals in Colombia, leading a dissident group dedicated to cocaine trafficking and deforestation for livestock.
After a year of failed peace agreement negotiations, Gustavo Petro opted for a frontal war against the guerrilla leader, who has become Colombia’s most wanted man, with a reward of approximately one million dollars offered for any information leading to his capture.
Colombia’s first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, elected in 2022, will step down after the presidential election scheduled for the end of May. He has unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate with armed groups that have strengthened during his tenure.
