MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Another FARC dissident leader gunned down

Mayimbú was one of the most wanted criminals in Colombia, was neutralized,” said Duque

Colombian President Iván Duque Monday reported a dangerous dissident FARC leader had been gunned down by national forces in Suárez, Cauca.

Authorities confirmed Leider Yohani Noscué, alias Mayimbú, had been killed in combat.

“I want to inform the country that thanks to Operation Jaguar of our glorious army, in the municipality of Suárez, Cauca, Leider Johany Noscue, alias 'Mayimbú', leader of the dissident FARC and one of the most wanted criminals in Colombia, was neutralized,” said Duque on Twitter.

The guerrilla leader was killed in the so-called Operation Jaguar, carried out by the National Army, and photographs have been published, according to El Tiempo.

Mayimbú had been slated as the man who ordered the murder of a group of eight people in Suárez in 2019, including mayoral candidate Karina Garcia Sierra and her bodyguards.

Duque had publicly declared that this dissident, who also worked with “Iván Mordisco” - the top leader of the dissident FARC - would be chased and brought to justice, because “he is a consequence of this drug trafficking conspiracy, a consequence of those who did not want to hand over their weapons.”

Days ago, Colombian forces had also killed Ricardo Abel Ayala, alias “Cabuyo,” another FARC dissident leader, in a rural area of the town of Barbosa. Cabuyo used to be the head of the 36th front of FARC dissidents.

Defense Minister Diego Molano had told reporters that Ayala was in charge of coordinating extortion, kidnappings, and attacks on the security forces, in addition to murders of social and indigenous leaders in a part of Antioquia, where he also forced the displacement of the population, for which he was among the most wanted men in Antioquia.

Ayala became famous during the Havana peace talks when he was selected to coordinate a humanitarian demining pilot program in the hamlet of El Orejón. However, when the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the then-FARC guerrillas was signed in 2016, he refused to put down his weapons.

Ayala was responsible -among other crimes- for the attack against workers from the Continental Gold mining company on September 20, 2018, in Yarumal, Antioquia, when geologists Camilo Andrés Tirado Farak, Henry Mauricio Martínez Gómez and Laura Alejandra Flórez Aguirre died, while three of their colleagues were injured. He is also accused of the forced disappearance and murder of social leader Didier Humberto Agudelo.

FARC dissidents have lost several leaders this year. The most relevant was Miguel Botache Santillana, alias “Gentil Duarte”, who died in Venezuela May 4 in an attack on his camp with explosives. His death was only confirmed by the guerrillas on May 30. Euclides España, alias “Jhonier”, was also killed January 24 in a joint army and police operation in Toribío.