Right-wing rebels assassinate FARC political leader in Colombia

A leader of the FARC [political] party was assassinated by right-wing  ELN rebels in the north of Colombia, where  already 225 ex-combatants  have been violently killed since the signing of the peace in 2016

Jorge Iván Ramos, 52, was killed on Friday. August 28  by a group of the National Liberation Army (ELN) , recognized as the last insurgent organization in Colombia, in Montecristo, in the department of Bolívar.

The former head of a guerrilla front “was ambushed by four ELN men who tied him up, made him walk for an hour and then assassinated him,” Édgar Viejo, also a partner of the murdered leader, told AFP.

According to his version, the group intercepted the vehicle in which Ramos was traveling with his security chief accused the leftist leader of collaborating with the military.

Ramos was returning from inspecting one of the farms that the dissolved guerrillas promised to deliver within the assets destined for the compensation of victims of the armed conflict.

The leader was also in charge of coordinating a national program for the voluntary substitution of drug crops.

In a statement, the Common Revolutionary Alternative Force (FARC) , the party that emerged from the agreements that ended a six-decade armed uprising, condemned the new aggression against its members.

“We demand that the murder (…) not go unpunished. That the ex-FARC combatants and all the members of our Party be protected. That the International Community verify and pronounce on this fact ”, it emphasized.

Under verification by the UN, the agreement allowed the disarmament of what was the most powerful guerrilla movement  in America. Some 13,000 men and women left the rebel struggle within the framework of a pact that provides justice, truth, and reparation for the victims.