The FARC on Sunday admitted the rebel group’s responsibility for killing a community leader while its current unilateral ceasefire was in force.
“Pastor Alape,” a leader of the FARC that has been engaged in peace talks with the government since November 2012, said on his Twitter Sunday that the guerrilla group is responsible for the murder of Genaro Garcia on August 3, 2015, three weeks after the group announced to cease hostilities.
Reportedly a human rights advocate, Garcia was an afro-descendant leader of the Alto Mira y Frontera Community Council in the southwestern province of Nariño by the Pacific coast where the guerrilla group is active.
Alape said “the investigation in to the death of ethnic leader Genaro Garcia disgracefully involves our units,” promising the public that “there will be justice.”
According to media reports, Garcia’s car was stopped on a rural road by armed men who shot him in the legs and head.
Amnesty International has said that the FARC had pressured Garcia to attend a meeting with them on that date previous to his murder.
Last year, FARC members warned Garcia that he would be killed if he continued his role as a leader of his community council.
The murder is the third violation of the FARC’s unilateral ceasefire that came into force on July 20 in the guerrillas’ attempt to deescalate violence while negotiating an end to 51 years of war with the state.
FARC violated ceasefire twice, Colombian army focused on other groups: Report
The FARC itself has accused the government of having violated the suspension of military air strikes on army units, the government’s reciprocation to the guerrillas’ ceasefire.
Colombia govt bombs FARC units in spite of suspension: Rebel leader
Both party are currently negotiating a bilateral ceasefire that would end the longest running armed conflict in Latin America before the formal signing of a peace deal.