Jesús Santrich: the story of the head of the Second Marquetalia who became a congressman

On the morning of this April 18, the death of Seuxis Pausias Hernández Solarte, better known by his alias ‘Jesús Santrich’, was confirmed, who was one of the signatories of the peace agreement between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the former guerrilla FARC and who, once took up arms in 2019, became one of the heads of the self-styled Second Marquetalia.

Santrich, who three years after the negotiations returned to crime, has been one of the main sponsors of the detriment of the peace agreement, by breaking with the agreement in Havana, the Cuban capital, in 2016.

Thanks to the agreements he was part of, Santrich managed to obtain a seat in the Congress of the Republic and served as representative to the House of the FARC political party, who changed their name and is now known as ‘Comunes’, Directed by Rodrigo Londoño, known as ‘Timochenko’.

In April 2018, Jesús Santrich was captured for alleged drug trafficking, being released in May 2019 by the Supreme Court of Justice after no evidence was found against him. This event caused a strong scandal in the country, which led to the resignation of former Attorney General Néstor Humberto Martínez, as the extradition of Santrich to the United States could not be carried out.

“Jesús Santrich” left the La Picota prison on May 17, 2019 and was recaptured seconds later by the Prosecutor’s Office with alleged new evidence against him.

Family and beginnings in the war

Santrich belonged to a large family of eight siblings, as was typical in those times in areas of the Colombian Caribbean, he was raised under a strict philosophical education. His father was an admirer of the Greek world, that’s why the first two names of the ex-guerrilla, Seusis Pausias, refer to two Greek painters of the 4th century BC His mother, for her part, taught him to read Gabriel García Márquez, the only Colombian nobleman of literature.

Since Santrich sat at the dialogue tables in Cuba, their positions and statements caused a stir in public opinion; Perhaps one of the most remembered was when in La Haba they asked him if once the peace was signed, he would apologize to the victims, his response, in a melodic tone, caused the rejection of millions of Colombians, mainly related to Uribism. “Perhaps perhaps Perhaps…”, expressed the guerrilla.

The-FARC-of-Santrich-and-Márquez-when-they-annihilated-the-Second-Marquetalia.

From his early years, Seusis Pausias showed interest in communist ideals, so he studied social sciences at the Universidad del Atlántico; There he exercised strong student activism, which later led him to pursue a postgraduate degree in history.

Years later, He served as a representative of Colosó (Sucre) and a teacher; later he joined the Patriotic Union (UP), a left-wing political party, founded in 1985 by various guerrilla groups that adhered to the law, including the ELN and the FARC.

His interest in communist ideologies became increasingly stronger, so that, at 21 years old, The now assassinated ex-congressman made a decision that would change the course of his life forever, after his best friend was murdered. He joined the 19th Front of the FARC-EP with the name of his murdered friend, who today will be the alias with which millions of Colombians remember him: Jesús Santrich.

“I decided to join the FARC because I believed it was the most coherent, most consistent thought. The affinity between the Communist Party and the FARC, the ideological affinity, also led me to join their ranks,” Santrich said at the time.

His humanistic and theoretical training were positioning him in command of the FARC Caribbean Bloc, who was active in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Montes de María and the department of Córdoba. He even wrote the book ‘Ten Tayronan Stories‘, about the indigenous peoples of the area. But it also belonged to fronts that controlled the Serranía de Pirijá, in the northeast of the country; although it was in the first in which he unleashed the controversy.

His time with the FARC

Santrich was in charge of communications in the guerrilla ranks; that is, of the propaganda of the ideology that the FARC wanted to spread. For what he used a clandestine network of stations called Bolivarian Radio Network Voice of the Resistance, which was only heard in the areas where they took part to recruit more militants.

And because of the education he received as a child, which allowed him a broader knowledge of international issues than the rest, it served to move the FARC around the world, especially in Europe.

Throughout this period of time, Santrich developed a genetic and degenerative disease known as Leber syndrome, which began in childhood; So what little by little it left him blind. So Colombians met him with black glasses and a Palestinian scarf that he always walks with, when he was named a FARC delegate at the Havana negotiating table.

Since he was about to arrive at Congress, Santrich caused a stir, because he said repeatedly that even if he had signed the peace, he would not renounce the right to rebellion.

The current guerrilla leader, allegedly assassinated, swore before the Chamber, the Supreme Court and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) that what was signed in Cuba would prevail, however, he did the opposite by taking up arms with one of his colleagues, the also former congressman Luciano Marín Arango, known as’ Iván Márquez.

In his criminality from the jungle, leading the Second Marquetalia, he has issued various pronouncements that ‘tumbled’ public opinion. Some of the most remembered, the death threat to the president of Colombia, Iván Duque and to fellow journalists Vicky Dávila and Claudia Gurisatti.

On his death, accurate confirmation is still awaited from the Colombian authorities; However, according to what was reported by W Radio, Army intelligence confirmed the loss of Santrich, who died in Apure, Venezuela.