HomeNewsBriefVenezuela to Send Top FARC Rebel to Colombia
BRIEF

Venezuela to Send Top FARC Rebel to Colombia

FARC / 2 JUN 2011 BY TYLER BIRD EN

Venezuela has started the process of sending a captured leading member of rebel group the FARC back to Colombia, from where he may be extradited to the U.S.

Guillermo Enrique Torres Cueter, alias "El Cantante" or "Julian Conrado," was a senior rebel in charge of the political direction of the Southern Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - FARC).

Torres was captured Tuesday in the west Venezuelan state of Barinas, with the help of Colombian police intelligence work, according to reports.

Colombia has not ruled out sending Torres to stand trial in the U.S., where he is wanted on drug trafficking charges.

The captured rebel earned his nickname "El Cantante" or "The Singer" by writing proganda song for the guerrilla group.

Torres was reported to be the right hand man of "Raul Reyes" and was thought to have been killed alongside the FARC's military head in a bombing attack in 2008. Military intelligence later revealed that, Torres was not killed, and was sent to Venezuela under a false Ecuadorian identity in order to do political work for the FARC.

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.

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

ARGENTINA / 1 FEB 2022

In 2021, most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a marked increase in murders. Resurgent violence was to…

COLOMBIA / 4 JUL 2022

While the death of Iván Márquez is yet to be confirmed, his passing would mark a major turning point in…

ECUADOR / 8 NOV 2022

Environmental crime is devastating the Amazon. What are these five Amazonian states doing to protect it?…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…