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COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA-POLITICS-DRUGS
Wanted former FARC leader could have fled to Venezuela, says Duque
BOGOTA, July 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A former left-wing guerrilla leader, now
a Colombian senator but wanted by the United States for alleged drug
trafficking, has probably fled to neighboring Venezuela, Colombia’s President
Ivan Duque said on Thursday.
Jesus Santrich, whose real name is Seuxis Paucias Hernandez, failed to
appear in court on Tuesday to testify about an alleged attempt to sell
cocaine, after which the Supreme Court ordered his arrest.
Duque told Emisora Atlantico radio station that Santrich’s escape to
Venezuela was “a real probability.”
The Colombian government has offered a nearly $1 million reward for
Santrich, promising up to three billion pesos ($937,000) to anyone who can
provide information that would help authorities capture him.
Santrich, a partially sighted 52-year-old, helped negotiate the 2016 peace
deal with the Colombian government that ended a half century of conflict by
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC).
That deal turned FARC into a political party, the Common Alternative
Revolutionary Force, which uses the same acronym as its rebel predecessor.
The peace deal guaranteed FARC 10 seats in Congress, one of which the party
assigned to Santrich.
However, he was unable to take his seat in July 2018 because he had been
arrested three months earlier on suspicion of participating in the
trafficking of 10 tons of cocaine to the US, which is seeking his
extradition.
He was eventually released around six weeks ago following a Supreme Court
order and last month was finally sworn in to Congress.
Duque’s government, under pressure from Washington, opposed Santrich’s
release and has repeatedly expressed its intention to extradite him.
The peace deal, signed by Duque’s predecessor Juan Manuel Santos, prohibits
the extradition of former fighters but the allegations against Santrich date
from June 2017 to April 2018, after the accord was signed.
“No country can protect him … and if there’s someone protecting him,
we’ll denounce them internationally,” said Duque.
Duque’s government has previously accused Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro’s socialist regime of allowing Colombian rebels to take refuge in its
territory.
Duque was one of the first heads of state to recognize Venezuela’s
opposition leader Juan Guaido as acting president in January.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0851 hrs