Prosecutor's Office issued a new arrest warrant against alias Gentil Duarte

On April 18 in the morning hours, the Attorney General's Office announced that it issued a new arrest warrant against Miguel Botache Santillana alias Gentil Duarte, head of one of the structures of the dissidence of the extinct FARC for the forced displacement of nearly 60 people.

“#ATENCIÓN | #Fiscalía issued an arrest warrant against alias Gentil Duarte for the forced displacement of nearly 60 people. As a result of the violence in the east of the country, it would have generated fear and anxiety among the inhabitants, who had to leave their lands,” the accusing body wrote on social networks.

According to information from the authorities, the dissident reportedly promoted a violent confrontation in the municipality of El Retorno located in the department of Guaviare between 2002 and 2004, in which there were constant armed confrontations and other illegal actions that endangered the lives and integrity of communities.

In the repertoire of evidence, the Prosecutor's Office has documented 11 acts of displacement, involving nearly 60 victims, including minors and older adults. Therefore, a prosecutor from the Specialized Directorate against Human Rights Violations issued the arrest warrant in the face of “the evident criminal continuity of Gentil Duarte, who rejected the process of reinstatement and is still in hiding,” the authorities reported.

And who is 'Gentil Duarte?

Miguel Botache Santillana, known by his alias 'Gentil Duarte', was born on October 15, 1963 in Florence, Caqueta. At just 18 years of age, he managed to enter the FARC's 14th Front, where he began his first steps as a guerrilla fighter.

According to the news portal Las2Orillas, some time later his career in the armed group allowed him to become the commander of Block 7 of the FARC, where he led extortion and drug trafficking in the department of Meta. His power within the FARC grew so much that, in 2009, he was granted a position in the General Staff of the Eastern Bloc of FARC-EP.

In 2016, Botache Santillana came under the spotlight when he was selected to join the FARC negotiating team that traveled to Havana during the peace talks. In fact, it was so much the knowledge of 'Gentil Duarte' from southern Colombia that the secretariat of the extinct guerrilla group sent him to Colombia to convince 'Iván Mordisco' to accept the peace accords, as the newspaper El Espectador knew.

However, after arriving in the country, 'Gentil Duarte' disappeared for months, until it was later known that together with 'Ivan Mordisco' they had resumed their arms at the first front of dissidences, which, according to the same medium, would later be called the southeastern bloc, due to the influence they have in areas such as Guaviare, Meta and Vaupés.

The authorities also believe that, currently, 'Gentil Duarte' and 'Iván Mordisco' also have links with other dissident fronts such as 7, 27, 16, 40, 47, 53 and 62, as reported to the Bogotá newspaper. So far, neither the Army nor the National Police have provided any further information on the possible whereabouts of 'Gentil Duarte', but he is one of the most sought after because of his involvement in violence in areas such as the border between Colombia and Venezuela.

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