The oldest living founder of Colombia’s largest guerrilla group FARC will be the tenth negotiator to advance peace talks with President Juan Manuel Santos’ government in early October.
According to newspaper El Espectador, Miguel Angel Pascuas Santos, alias “Sargento Pascuas” (Sergeant Easter) will support the other principal FARC voices which will travel to the Norwegian capital Oslo to meet with the Colombian government in search of an end to the country’s 48 year armed conflict.
Though Pascuas is the oldest living founder of the guerrilla group, he remains active as the current commander of the FARC’s 6th Front operating in the west of the country.
After a military offensive in 1964, Pascuas along with 12,000 other Liberal guerrillas were forced to flee into the Andes Mountains where they took refuge as they were sought to be eradicated by the Colombian Army.
It was during this period that the guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was born.
Pascuas remained in the mountains and jungle for more than 45 years, often in disguise as a peasant to avoid capture, but still dictating actions and attacks. Experts say that Pascuas was a “ruthless guerrilla leader,” while he is still seen as a living legend among FARC members.