A government air strike on a Colombian rebel camp killed a member of the guerrillas’ negotiation team who had participated in peace talks aimed at ending the country’s five-decade civil war, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Farc, announced on Wednesday.
The rebel commander known as Jairo Martínez was among the 27 guerrillas killed in the 21 May attack in southwestern Cauca province, which has raised tensions between the government and the country’s largest rebel army. Forensic analysis confirmed the identity of the insurgent, whose real name was Pedro Nel Daza, according to media reports.
Pastor Alape, a top Farc leader taking part in peace talks being held in Havana, said that Martínez was on an “educational peace mission” when the strike hit. Members of the rebels’ negotiating team have often traveled back to Colombia to inform their comrades about talks in Havana which began in 2012.
The attack by government forces prompted the Farc to end an indefinite unilateral ceasefire that it had declared in December. Violations of that ceasefire – including a rebel attack that killed 11 soldiers in April – have led the government to step up operations against the rebels.
Another rebel commander, Román Ruiz, died Sunday in a separate strike by government forces in Chocó province.
Alape called for independent autopsies of the rebel fighters who died, alleging some had been shot while trying to surrender, but a coroner’s report denied that any of the bodies were shot at close range.
Despite the rising tensions, negotiators resumed talks Monday. They are tackling the issues of transitional justice and demobilization for the guerrillas, which would end the western hemisphere’s longest running conflict.
Wednesday marked the 51th anniversary of the Farc, who trace their roots as an insurgency to 27 May 1964, when US-backed troops attacked a leftist peasant enclave known as Marquetalia.
Since then, more than 200,000 people have been killed in the drug-fueled conflict, and more than 5 million Colombians have been forced to flee their homes.
