MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former FARC guerrilla fighter dies in Buenos Aires riots

The overweight rioter decompensated while being held by police officers on the floor

An Argentine national with a criminal record as a member of the dissolved Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) died Thursday in Buenos Aires after being arrested by the City Police amid riots staged by leftwing groups around the iconic Obelisk, it was reported.

The protesters of Votamos Luchar and Rebelión Popular were by their own admission “carrying out an act against the electoral farce and for the people's democracy, when the Police attacked the demonstrators, seriously wounding one of them and detaining others,” according to local media. “The seriously wounded comrade is Facundo Molares. He was transferred without vital signs after having been savagely beaten,” the organizers stressed in a statement.

Molares is a former FARC fighter, for which he was even imprisoned in Argentina, awaiting possible extradition to that country, where he is wanted for the 2009 kidnapping of councilman Armando Acuña. During his time with FARC, Molares went by the alias Camilo Fierro.

He was arrested by Interpol in November 2021 in Chubut and was then held in a federal prison outside Buenos Aires, at the Federal Penitentiary Unit No. 6 in Ezeiza. He pleaded not guilty and assured that his extradition did not correspond since the crimes attributed to him occurred before the Peace Accords signed in 2016 between the FARC and the government of then President Juan Manuel Santos.

Molares was born in San Miguel, Buenos Aires, and spent time in Ecuador, Cuba, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia until he became the third foreigner to join the FARC.

He was also a guest of Bolivia's correctional system between 2019 and 2020 when he was involved in clashes that left two people dead in a post-election conflict. He was released after Luis Arce Catacora took office.

Back in Argentina, he was arrested by Interpol in November 2021 in Chubut and was then held at the Ezeiza federal prison outside Buenos Aires. He pleaded not guilty and insisted his extradition did not correspond since the crimes attributed to him occurred before the 2016 Peace Accords between FARC and the government of then President Juan Manuel Santos.

According to videos of Thursday's incidents, the overweight rioter decompensated while being held by police officers on the floor and had to be resuscitated on the spot until the ambulance arrived. Minutes later, his death was officially confirmed.

“We hold the government of [Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez] Larreta and [Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel] Kicillof responsible for giving the order to repress. In times of deep crisis, the governments insist on advancing against those of us who struggle,” the protesters argued. The organizations said six people were detained.

According to Buenos Aires City's emergency services SAME, the cause of death was linked to cardiac arrest due to risk factors. The body was taken to the morgue for an autopsy, it was also explained. “For more than half an hour, resuscitation maneuvers were performed until death was confirmed,” SAME also said.

A spokesperson for the Buenos Aires City Police confirmed the death of an individual about 40 years of age after officers prevented an urn from being set on fire by the demonstrators: “MST marchers wanted to set fire to an urn. They were not allowed. They began to attack. At the moment of the 4 arrests, one of them began to convulse. SAME was called and he was taken to [the] Ramos Mejía [hospital].”

“Today in the framework of a demonstration with incidents, Facundo Molares died after a decompensation. I regret his death and I extend my condolences to his family,” presidential hopeful Rodríguez Larreta said on social networks.

“Argentines need to live in peace. Political speculations like the ones we are seeing are unacceptable. As I have been saying for a long time, we have to leave violence, aggression, and confrontation behind,” he added.