Colombian guerilla (1948?2008)
In this
Spanish name
, the first or paternal
surname
is
Devia
and the second or maternal family name is
Silva
.
Luis Edgar Devia Silva
(30 September 1948 ? 1 March 2008), better known by his
nom de guerre
Raul Reyes
, was a leader,
Secretariat
member,
spokesperson
, and advisor to the
Southern Bloc
of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia?People's Army (
FARC?EP
). He died during an attack by the
Colombian army
1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) within
Ecuador
, sparking the
2008 Andean diplomatic crisis
.
Early years
[
edit
]
Reyes was born in the
Colombian
town of
La Plata
,
Huila Department
.
[1]
Devia Silva joined the
Colombian Communist Youth
(JUCO) when he was 16 years old. He later joined a
trade union
movement while working for a
Nestle
milk plant in the department of
Caqueta
. Devia Silva served as councilman for his home town representing the
Colombian Communist Party
(PCC), and was also a member of the party's Central Committee.
[2]
After becoming a member of
FARC
and joining its secretariat, Reyes became a prominent figure and
spokesperson
for the FARC,
[3]
number two man in the group's seven person ruling secretariat.
[4]
Reyes was accused by the
US Department of State
and the Colombian government of expanding FARC's
cocaine
trafficking activities and setting related policies, including the production, manufacture, and distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine
[4]
to the United States and other countries. He was accused of promoting the "taxation" of the
illegal drug trade
in Colombia to raise funds for the FARC.
[5]
He had been formally sentenced in absence for the deaths of 13 policemen and 18 soldiers, 18 kidnappings and the deaths of a judge, a physician, three judicial auxiliaries, the ex-minister of Culture
Consuelo Araujo
, the congressman Diego Turbay and his mother, Catholic monsignor Isaias Duarte, Governor of
Antioquia
Guillermo Gaviria, the Colombian ex-minister Gilberto Echeverri, 11 members of the
Valle del Cauca
Assembly and at least four other persons. Most of these persons were kidnapped before their deaths. Gaviria, Echeverri and Araujo were killed by shots in the head when Colombian military forces stormed the camps where they were held by guerrilla insurgents. He was also found responsible for bombing Club El Nogal in
Bogota
where 36 people were killed. The Government of
Paraguay
had asked for his extradition for his participation in the kidnapping and death of
Cecilia Cubas
, daughter of the ex-president of Paraguay, who was kidnapped on 21 September 2004, and whose body was found in an abandoned house in February 2005. Before his death the
United States Department of State
was offering a reward of up to US$5 million for information leading to his arrest. He was also included in
Interpol
's "red list".
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
Colombian authorities believed that Raul Reyes moved through the southern Colombian frontier, especially in
Putumayo Department
, along the border with
Ecuador
. In late 2006, his possible presence in Ecuadorian territory was denounced by Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe
, while Ecuador's authorities rejected the claim, admitting only temporary FARC "infiltrations".
[9]
Colombian Army General
German Galvis
repeated this claim in October 2006.
Negotiations with Wall Street
[
edit
]
In June 1999, during peace negotiations with the government of
Andres Pastrana
, Reyes met in the Colombian savannah with
Richard Grasso
, then chairman of the
New York Stock Exchange
. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss investment opportunities for the FARC.
[10]
The two men were photographed in an embrace which became known as the "Grasso abrazo."
[11]
[12]
Death
[
edit
]
Wikinews has related news:
Reyes was killed during a Colombian military operation in Granada,
Putumayo Department
, on 1 March 2008, against an encampment situated near
Santa Rosa de Sucumbios
, on the Ecuadorian side of the border along the
Putumayo River
.
Previously, in February 2008, the FBI and DEA had assisted the Colombian government in tracing a satellite phone call made by Reyes to Venezuelan president
Hugo Chavez
in which they discussed the release of hostages. Reyes’ location was traced to an encampment located a mile across Colombia’s southern border in neighboring Ecuador???the government of which had earlier denied reports of Reyes’ presence.
[4]
The attack started at 00:25.
[3]
[13]
Reyes died after stepping on a FARC land mine while trying to flee the camp.
[14]
The Colombian government acknowledged the killing of Reyes and 16 more guerrillas in a guerrilla camp 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) inside Ecuador's border.
[3]
The dead body was retrieved and transported to Colombian territory after the operation took place. Colombian soldier Carlos Edilson Hernandez Leon was killed in action during the attack.
[15]
According to a
DPA
report,
Noticias Uno
claimed that Hernandez Leon died accidentally, due to a falling tree.
[16]
According to the Ecuadorian government the attack happened 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the border inside Ecuador’s territory, and it was a planned air strike followed by the incursion of Colombian troops transported by helicopters. The attack left a total of 20 guerrilla members dead in Ecuadorian territory, many of them wearing underwear or sleeping clothes. According to Ecuadorian president
Rafael Correa
, the
Super Tucanos
[4]
war planes entered 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in Ecuador's territory and struck while flying north, followed by troops who came by helicopters and completed the attack.
[17]
The Ecuadorian president announced that a diplomatic note would be sent in protest,
[18]
claiming that the action was a violation of Ecuador's airspace.
[19]
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called the attack "a cowardly murder", and reacted by moving troops near the border with Colombia and recalling all personnel from the Venezuelan embassy in Colombia,
[20]
saying that doing something similar inside Venezuela would be a "cause for war".
[19]
Eventually the dispute did not escalate beyond a war of words. Diplomatic meetings and an apology from Colombian president Alvaro Uribe resolved the crisis a week later.
[4]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
Colombian government officials have seized documents
[21]
that, according to a spokesman for EX Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, show Ecuadorian President
Rafael Correa
"has a relationship and commitments with FARC", and, according to the Colombian National Police Director
Oscar Naranjo
, Reyes had met Ecuador's minister of internal security to discuss an "interest in making official relations with the FARC".
[22]
According to Colombian authorities, the three laptop computers seized were found to hold extensive information about the FARC, their operations and connections.
[23]
The Colombian government handed over the three PCs and their ancillary devices to a team of
Interpol
experts, for a period of two weeks. Interpol's analysis had a limited scope, toward the sole objective of certifying whether the information was or was not altered in any way by the Colombian government, and not to examine the contents of the documents themselves.
[24]
The Interpol report
[25]
concluded that the key documents were unharmed and unmodified,
The Interpol's list of information recovered from the devices mentions over 30,000 written documents and more than 7,000 e-mail addresses.
On 15 June 2008, Interpol issued a new press release in response to a statement by Ecuador's Foreign Ministry that the international organization considered to be incorrect. The press release stated that "[Ecuador] inaccurately suggests that Interpol had not established whether the eight seized exhibits forensically examined by Interpol's computer forensic experts had been recovered by Colombian authorities on March 1, 2008 from a FARC camp or belonged to Raul Reyes. In fact, based on a review of all the information and material provided by Colombia, including a classified oral briefing, Interpol was able to satisfy itself, and clearly stated in its report, that the seized computer exhibits it was requested to forensically examine were taken from the FARC camp on March 1, 2008 and belonged to Raul Reyes."
[26]
Interpol also added "that validating the contents of the computer exhibits were not manipulated after their seizure by Colombian authorities is not in any way, shape or form the same as saying that the contents of the user files are true and accurate. Interpol therefore objects to those who suggest that Interpol's report validates the source and accuracy of any particular document or user file contained therein."
[26]
On 16 March 2010
Hugo Chavez
admitted having had a meeting with Reyes at an indeterminate date during Pastrana's government.
[27]
References
[
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]
Further reading
[
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]
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