President Ivan Duque said Monday that one of the most feared guerrillas of southwest Colombia was killed in combat.
“Mayimbu,” the alleged commander of the Western Coordinating Command (CCO) was killed in Suarez, a town in the southwestern Cauca province, according to the president.
Defense Minister Diego Molano said that the body of the guerrilla leader was not retrieved by medical examiners due to a “community riot.”
The government is certain that they killed the alleged boss of the CCO because of a tattoo on the killed guerrilla’s arm that said “Mayimbu.”
While the government celebrated the alleged death of the guerrilla leader, community leaders told newspaper El Espectador they fear retaliations from the guerrillas.
The group of the rearmed former FARC guerilla, the Jaime Martinez Front, has been accused of assassinating multiple community leaders and a local politician from the northern Cauca region.
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From FARC to CCO
Mayimbu, whose real name is Leider Johany Noscue, joined the now-defunct FARC guerrilla group Cauca in 2003, according to the authorities.
The Cauca native demobilized with the FARC in 2017, but was removed from the peace process in 2019 due to evidence that he had formed a new guerrilla group.
Indigenous communities from the north of Cauca have accused the Jaime Martinez Front of being one of the most aggressive FARC dissident groups from the north of Cauca because of its involvement in drug trafficking.
The guerrillas have violently tried to subjugate the indigenous communities in order to use their reserves to move cocaine to the Pacific coast.
Following the death of CCO commander “Jhonnier” in January, authorities speculated that Mayimbu had taken over control over the approximately 12 guerrilla groups that form part of this organization.
Colombia claims killing dissident FARC commander
The CCO is mainly active in Cauca, Valle del Cauca and Nariño, and aligned with the Southwestern Bloc, a FARC dissident organization that operates in the east and southeast of Colombia.
War in southwest Colombia far from over
The 1,800 armed members of the groups that belong to the CCO are at war with the security forces, guerrilla group ELN, FARC dissident group “Segunda Marquetalia” and paramilitary group AGC.
These armed conflicts have made the southwest of Colombia, and Cauca in particular, one of the most violent regions in the country.
The death of Mayimbu could add to the instability in the region.