Rodrigo Granda: former FARC commander, detained upon arrival in Mexico
The former commander of the Colombian guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Rodrigo Granda, was detained this Tuesday at the Mexico City airport, in a confusing incident.
Granda, known as the “chancellor of the FARC”, participated as a guerrilla negotiator in the peace process with the Colombian State and maintains its adherence to the agreement signed in 2016 during the presidency of Juan Manuel Santos.
Granda told Semana magazine that he had signed “a voluntary resignation to enter” in Mexico at the request of the Mexican authorities and planned to return to Colombia on a scheduled flight early Wednesday morning.
According to his account, four Mexican agents took him to the migration zone, where he was informed that he could not enter the country, but received no further explanations.
Senator Carlos Lozada, from Comunes, the political party of ex-guerrillas that emerged after the laying down of arms, was who denounced that Granda had been detained, after traveling to Mexico with the endorsement of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the transitional justice court that investigates the Colombian conflict.
“They arrested Rodrigo Granda in Mexico; Although he left the country with the authorization of the JEP, we are informed that the government of Iván Duque asked Interpol to activate red traffic while he was flying to Mexico, in clear violation of the Peace Agreement that they want to tear apart, ”said the senator, also demobilized.
Later, the Colombian Defense Minister assured on Twitter that the arrest was not requested to Interpol for Colombia, but for Paraguay.
“The arrest of Mr. Rodrigo Granda was caused by a red circular from Paraguay for kidnapping, criminal association and intentional homicide. We ratify that Interpol Colombia is not empowered or has access to modify, clarify or cancel the information published by other countries, ”Diego Molano wrote.
The newspaper El Tiempo reports that government sources indicated that Paraguay accuses the FARC of the kidnapping and murder of Paraguayan citizen Cecilia Cubas Gusinky, who appeared dead in 2005 after spending 5 months kidnapped.
Granda told Semana that the accusations against him for the death of Cubas “are a hoax.”
In Mexico, federal government sources confirmed to the AFP agency the arrest of the ex-guerrilla, but declined to give more details.
Rodrigo Granda gained international prominence when he was arrested in 2004 by Colombian authorities in Venezuela, a fact that caused the rupture of relations between the governments of Álvaro Uribe and Hugo Chávez.
Three years later, he was released as part of a humanitarian exchange orchestrated by the international community seeking to free FARC hostages.
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