Colombia's government is working to confirm whether Jesus Santrich, one of the most prominent leaders of a group of Colombia's former FARC rebels who have continued to fight the government after rejecting a peace deal, has been killed in Venezuela, the defense minister said on Tuesday.
Santrich, who initially backed the 2016 peace deal, was wanted by the U.S. on drug trafficking charges and had long been thought to be based in Venezuela.
"Intelligence information signals that alias Santrich and other criminals were killed in supposed confrontations which took place yesterday in Venezuela," Defense Minister Diego Molano said on Twitter. "Information being verfied. If confirmed, it proves Venezuela harbors narco-criminals."
(Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
