HomeNewsBriefFARC's 6th Front Commanders Killed in Southwest Colombia
BRIEF

FARC's 6th Front Commanders Killed in Southwest Colombia

COLOMBIA / 20 AUG 2013 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

Security forces in Colombia have killed two top commanders of the FARC's 6th Front, one of the guerrilla's most militarily aggressive factions, which is heavily involved in the marijuana trade and vulnerable to criminalization if the rebels demobilize.

The front's acting leader, Ciro Antonio Patiño, alias "El Burro" and its third-in-command and military chief, Arley Medina Prado, alias "Jaimito," were killed in a joint operation by members of the Colombian army, police and air force on August 18, reported Semana

According to El Tiempo's account, security forces were assisted by a member of El Burro's own security ring, who was convinced to give exact coordinates of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) encampment in Toribio, a mountainous northern zone of the southwestern Cauca department that has long been a FARC stronghold and conflict hotspot.

The 6th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is led by Miguel Angel Pascuas Santos, alias "Sargento Pascuas," one of the last surviving original FARC members. Sargento Pascuas joined peace negotiations in Havana, Cuba in fall 2012, leaving Patiño in charge.

InSight Crime Analysis

The FARC's 6th Front controls much of the area where marijuana is grown in the Cauca department, supplying it to domestic markets throughout Colombia and also exporting it abroad, mainly to Venezuela. The front has also been reported to engage in business deals with BACRIM group the Rastrojos, and is involved in illegal gold mining.

As noted in InSight Crime's special investigation into the possibility of the FARC demobilizing, the 6th Front's profitable criminal activities and reliance on the leadership of one man -- Sargento Pascuas -- mean it is particularly likely to criminalize if a successful peace agreement is reached in the ongoing talks in Cuba.

SEE ALSO: FARC, Peace and Possible Criminalization

The deaths of the top two acting leaders of the 6th Front are a serious blow to the FARC, as it could significantly weaken an important unit, particularly as Sargento Pascuas sits at the negotiating table along with Jorge Torres Victoria, alias "Pablo Catatumbo," -- leader of the Joint Western Command, which maintains overall command of the front. 

However, it could also increase the possibility of the front criminalizing, as the lack of a respected command structure with a tight grip on the front's activities increases the possibility of fragmentation, with individual units taking advantage of the power vacuum to break away and pursue their own criminal profits. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCAINE / 2 JUN 2022

The death of Cali Cartel boss Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela in a US prison marks the end of one of Colombia’s…

AUC / 26 JUN 2022

The former paramilitary commander and drug lord, alias “Memo Fantasma,” may walk out of prison in Colombia on June 28.

AUC / 9 SEP 2022

Hernán Giraldo, former paramilitary commander of Colombia’s AUC has been charged with sexually abusing minors.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…