Colombia’s largest rebel group, the FARC, on Friday claimed that the government “kidnapped” the body of a former leader who was killed by the Colombian air force on Ecuadorian soil in 2008.
Colombia’s largest rebel group, FARC, said on Friday the Colombian government “kidnapped” the body of former FARC leader “Raul Reyes;” who was killed by the Colombian air force on Ecuadorean territory in 2008.
Ivan Marquez, the FARC’s chief negotiator at the ongoing peace talks in Havana, Cuba, said it was “inhumane and cruel” that the government “kidnapped” the remains of “Raul Reyes” on the fifth anniversary of the FARC commander’s death.
“We denounce, in front of the world, [this] degrading deed which disregards humanitarian protocols, the sick attitude of Colombia’s government to still keep, five years afterwards, the remains of the commander Raul Reyes,” said Marquez.
The FARC negotiator demanded that the Red Cross “take strong action to compel the kidnappers to return the human remains.”
Reyes was considered the FARC’s “number two” after founder and leader “Manuel Marulanda.” Reyes was also the insurgent’s “international spokesperson.”
He was killed in the Ecuadorean jungle, less than a mile away from the Colombian border.
The killing of Reyes sparked a diplomatic crisis between Ecuador and Colombia that culminated in a well-publicized showdown between current Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa and then-Colombian president Alvaro Uribe.
Source
- Honor y gloria a los caídos en Sucumbíos (Official FARC Blog)
