The leader of the largest dissident faction of Colombia’s former FARC guerrilla movement has called on rival armed groups to unite against what he described as growing U.S. interventionism in the region. The appeal came in a video message released days after U.S. forces entered neighboring Venezuela and detained President Nicolás Maduro.
Néstor Gregorio Vera, known by his alias “Iván Mordisco,” appeared in the video wearing camouflage and flanked by two heavily armed fighters. In the recording, later confirmed as authentic by his group, Vera warned that U.S. military pressure now threatens multiple countries and armed movements across the region. “The shadow of the interventionist eagle looms over everyone equally,” he said, urging rebel groups to set aside internal disputes.
The message coincides with rising diplomatic and military tension involving Washington, Bogotá and Caracas. Colombian President Gustavo Petro is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington in February, according to Trump. The planned talks come shortly after Trump publicly threatened Colombia with military action and imposed sanctions on Petro in October, accusing his government, without evidence, of allowing cocaine trafficking into the United States.
A call to consolidate insurgent forces
In his address, Vera called for coordination among several armed groups that emerged from the demobilization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, including the National Liberation Army, the Second Marquetalia faction and the Bolivarian Army Guerrilla Coordinating Board. He framed the proposal as a historic opportunity to rebuild a unified insurgent front capable of resisting foreign pressure.
“Destiny is calling us to unite,” Vera said. “We are heirs to the same cause. Let us forge a great insurgent bloc to push back the enemies of the greater homeland.” However, his appeal notably excluded the Central General Staff, the second-largest FARC dissident group, which split from Vera’s organization in 2024 following internal disputes.
Security sources estimate that the groups mentioned by Vera collectively number more than 11,000 members. Their activities are largely tied to drug trafficking and illegal gold mining, operations that continue to fuel violence in rural regions of Colombia.
Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez dismissed the call for unity as a survival tactic. According to him, Vera’s message reflects an attempt to shield himself from intensified military operations aimed at dismantling armed groups that rejected the 2016 peace accord.
The video underscores how the shifting geopolitical landscape, particularly Washington’s recent actions in Venezuela, is reshaping calculations among armed actors in Colombia. While peace talks remain a central pillar of President Petro’s agenda, the renewed rhetoric from insurgent leaders suggests that regional instability may complicate those efforts in the months ahead.