News / Colombia

Senior Colombian rebel commander killed in battle

Monday, 15 June 2015 4:44 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 15 June 2015 4:44 AM ]

Tgus picture, taken on February 27, 2000, shows members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Colombia in a rural road in Sarare, Colombia. (© AFP)

Colombia’s military has killed a rebel commander of the county’s second largest leftist guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The Colombian government said on Sunday that Jose Amin Hernandez, also known as Marquitos, was killed during combat in Segovia municipality in the northwestern province of Antioquia.

“The rebel known as Marquitos, leader of the ELN’s Dario Martinez front and a member of its national leadership, has been killed. Congratulations, armed forces,” President Juan Manuel Santos said in a message posted on Twitter.

The army also issued a statement, describing the death of the ELN’s front leader as a “decisive blow” to the rebel group.

According to the government, Hernandez was the commander of 13 ELN units in the provinces of Antioquia and Bolivar, where drug and arms trafficking as well as illegal mining are widespread.

The rebel commander was also wanted for the hijacking of an Avianca passenger plane with nearly 50 people on board in 1999.

Having about 2,500 guerrillas, the ELN is the second biggest rebel group in Colombia. It has been fighting against the government for more than 50 years and has not entered the ongoing peace talks with Bogota.

The head of the Colombian delegation, Humberto de la Calle (L), and Cuban guarantor of the peace talks Rodolfo Benitez shake hands before a press conference at the end of the 37th cycle of the peace talks between the Colombian government and FARC, at Convention Palace in Havana, June 4, 2015. (© AFP)

The Colombian government and the country’s larger guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), started peace talks in 2012.

The negotiations between the two sides in the Cuban capital, Havana, have so far produced partial agreements on several issues, including ending the drug trafficking that has fueled the conflict. But the two sides have not clinched a final deal yet.

Over 200,000 people have been killed in the Colombian conflict, which has also uprooted more than six million since FARC launched its activities in 1964.

MR/HJL/HRB

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