Iván Ríos | |
---|---|
Birth name | José Juvenal Velandia |
Born | 19 December 1961 |
Died | 3 March 2008 | (aged 46)
Allegiance | FARC |
Iván Ríos (born José Juvenal Velandia; 19 December 1961 – 3 March 2008), also known as Manuel Jesús Muñoz Ortiz, [1] [2] [3] was head of the Central Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) [1] and the youngest member of this guerrilla's Central High Command.
Ríos was born in San Francisco, Putumayo, Colombia. [1] [3]
Ríos was killed by his security chief, Pablo Montoya, on 3 March 2008 in a mountainous area of the western department of Caldas. [4] Colombian military forces were involved in an operation to capture Ríos, when a FARC member named as "Rojas", on 6 March 2008, delivered a severed right hand, a laptop computer and an ID to the troops. [4] "Rojas" claimed that they belonged to Ríos, whom he described as his boss. Pablo Montoya claimed to have killed Ríos three days earlier. [4] Fingerprint results proved that the hand did belong to Ríos, resulting in Colombian authorities going to recover the body.