One of the FARC’s most wanted and feared rebel commanders, “Romaña,” has joined ongoing peace talks with the Colombian government, the FARC said on Friday.
The chief negotiator of the rebels, “Ivan Marquez,” announced the arrival of the senior guerrilla on Friday when presenting the FARC’s commission that will negotiate a bilateral ceasefire and the eventual disarmament of the guerrilla organization with military counterparts.
Romaña is one of the rebels’ most infamous leaders as he is alleged to have invented the mechanisms for mass kidnappings and the mass capture of enemy fighters for which the FARC became known in the 1990s when they were at the height of their military power.
The rebel commander is a member of the FARC’s Central Command, the guerrillas’ highest political body, and spent three decades of his life in the guerrilla force.
Over the past few days, the FARC has added a number of new guerrillas to their negotiation team, not to take part in the ongoing negotiations about victims, but to complete the team that will negotiate directly with the military about a bilateral ceasefire and the rebels’ subsequent disarmament.
This commission, dubbed the Guerrilla Normalization Command, is led by two of six members of the FARC’s Secretariat, the rebels’ top military command. The commission will also include other members of the Central Command and a number of prominent unit commanders.
Sources
- FARC-EP presenta su Sub-comisión Técnica (FARC-EP)