Colombia's FARC rebel leader calls for groups to come together

The head of the largest dissident branch of the ​former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group called on other rebel groups to come together to fight U.S. interventionism in the region, in a video message confirmed by the group as authentic ⁠on Friday. The call from leader Nestor Gregorio Vera, better known by his nom de ‌guerre "Ivan Mordisco," follows ⁠the U.S. incursion into neighboring Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro. "The shadow of the interventionist eagle looms ‍over everyone equally. We urge you to put aside these differences," Vera said in a video in which he appeared dressed in camouflage and surrounded by two heavily armed ⁠guerrillas. Colombian President Gustavo Petro - a former guerrilla who vowed to bring peace to the country after more than six decades of internal armed conflict - is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington in February, Trump ‌said on Friday .

The planned meeting comes days after Trump threatened Colombia with military action. Trump has repeatedly accused the administration of Petro, without evidence, of enabling a steady flow of ⁠cocaine into the U.S., imposing sanctions on the Colombian leader in October. "Destiny is calling us to unite. We are not scattered forces, we are heirs to the same cause. Let us weave unity through action and forge the great insurgent ⁠bloc that will push back the enemies of the greater homeland," Vera added in the video addressed to the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Second Marquetalia and the Bolivarian Army Guerrilla Coordinating ‍Board, which also emerged from the former FARC. However, it did not include the second-largest FARC dissident group, known as the Central General Staff, which broke away from Vera's ‌group in 2024. In ​total, the groups the insurgent ‌leader proposed joining have more than 11,000 members. Their primary criminal activities are drug traffickin

g and illegal gold mining, according to security sources. Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said that by calling ‌for rebel unity, Vera was looking to protect himself from being hunted down by ​the armed forces.