Fourth ex-FARC member murdered in Ituango in less then four months

By Jess Rapp November 13, 2017

Former FARC member, Dalaider of Jesús Vásquez, known as Dalaider Ortiz, was murdered on Saturday in the municipality of Ituango, Antioquia in the northwest of Colombia. 

He was shot dead this weekend by two unidentified men on motorcycles, also injuring several people in the proximity, including another ex-FARC member known as “Pájaro.”

Ortiz was an ex-combatant of the 18th Front of the former FARC. His murder was announced on Twitter by Rodrigo Granda, a leader of the new FARC political party. “In Ituango they have just murdered ex-militant Daladier Ortiz … Who will put an end to this slaughter? Mr. Minister of defence, are these isolated incidents or are they systematic? Who pays and who pulls the trigger?”

In 2017, 27 FARC ex-combatants and 11 FARC family members have been killed. Ortiz is one of four ex-guerillas to be assassinated in Ituango, a municipality home to one of 26 demobilisation zones, helping to reintegrate ex-FARC members into civilian life.

Commander of the Antioquia Police Department, Colonel Carlos Mauricio Sierra, told El Tiempo that as this is the fourth assassination of an ex-FARC member in Ituango in less than four months, the national police have deployed a highly specialised group, composed of judicial and intelligent police, to find those responsible for the murder.

According to the Colonel, Ortiz was an ex-guerilla registered in Ituango’s demobilisation camp but had “left because they have permission [to do so as part of] their process of reintegrating into society.”

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