'I haven't given up': Iván Mordisco, Colombia's most wanted guerrilla

Colombia's most wanted guerrilla leader, Iván Mordisco, said Saturday he will not surrender despite the capture of his brother on the outskirts of Bogotá. Mordisco is the head of the Central General Staff (EMC), a group of insurgents who abandoned the historic 2016 peace agreement between the government and the FARC guerrillas. President Gustavo Petro compares him to cocaine baron Pablo Escobar.

During the Álvaro Uribe administration (2002-2010), "they made a sister of mine disappear, and I haven't given up," said the subversive leader , who, according to authorities, is fleeing through the Amazon after being wounded in an operation. See more: Attacks on public forces reported: attacks in Cali and Antioquia

Petro, Colombia's first leftist leader, announced on Friday the arrest of alias Mono Luis, Mordisco's brother and responsible for " drug trafficking, illicit finance, and logistics activities " for the EMC.

"If you wish, finish off the rest of my family. I don't believe in Colombian justice, but I trust in revolutionary justice (...) and what happened now will be one more reason to fight for structural changes in the country ," Mordisco said in a statement released on social media, holding Petro responsible for the fate of his loved ones.

See more: Attack in Cali: Identity of alleged perpetrator revealed and city militarized

" I'm not calling on anyone to protect my family. You, Gustavo Petro, will be responsible for their life or death, placing them as spoils of war ," he added. One of the EMC fronts is blamed for the truck bomb attack that killed six civilians and injured more than 60 people on Thursday near a military air base in Cali (southwest), the country's third most populous city. See more: Colombia demands a tough line against illegal groups after attacks in Cali and Antioquia.

Dissidents have increased their pressure on security forces since Mordisco abandoned the peace negotiations with Petro's government in 2024, after a year of rapprochement. Colombia is experiencing its worst crisis of violence in a decade due to the onslaught of guerrillas, paramilitaries, and mafias profiting from drug trafficking, extortion, and illegal mining.

AFP