Colombia’s security forces on Sunday arrested a FARC commander who has been sentenced for the 1996 killing of a senator and is accused of taking part in the kidnapping of French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.
The guerrilla leader, Gustavo Gomez Urrea, alias “Victor,” was arrested in Solano, a municipality in the southern Caqueta department where he and his brother Jose Ventura allegedly led the FARC’s 15th front.
According to the authorities, Victor was the financial head of the FARC front and responsible for all drug-related activities of the guerrillas in the Caqueta department.
The FARC guerrilla has been sentenced to 38 years in prison for the murder of congressman Rodrigo Turbay Cote and had additional arrest warrants against him for his alleged role in kidnapping, homicide, terrorism and rebellion.
Victor is accused of taking part in the 1996 attack on a military base in the Putumayo department in which 31 soldiers were killed and 60 were kidnapped, the 1998 attack on a military base in the Caqueta department during which 30 soldiers were killed and 60 were injured and the kidnapping of then-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
The 45-year old guerrilla spent 25 years of his life in the FARC.