Rodrigo Granda, known as the FARC foreign minister, arrived in Mexico, but was not allowed to enter the country, according to his colleague alias ‘Timochenko’

Photo: DANIEL MUNOZ / AFP via Getty Images

(CNN Spanish) – Rodrigo Granda, known as the FARC foreign minister, arrived in Mexico City on Tuesday, but according to Rodrigo Londoño, former top FARC leader alias ‘Timochenko’, he has not been allowed to enter Mexico.

In a video posted on Twitter, ‘Timochenko’, a former Colombian guerrilla leader of the FARC, said that he and Granda went to Mexico to participate in a seminar.

“We did all the procedures before the JEP (the Special Jurisdiction for Peace) as appearing parties, we were given the permits,” Londoño said in the video. “I really don’t know what happened, I don’t want to brag things, I don’t want to speculate,” he added.

A high-profile source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to CNN that Granda arrived in Mexico, but was not allowed into the country because she had a red circular from INTERPOL.

Earlier Tuesday, from Colombia, Defense Minister Diego Molano said on Twitter that Granda was in custody. “The arrest of Mr. Rodrigo Granda was caused by a red circular from Paraguay for kidnapping, criminal association and intentional homicide,” Molano wrote on Twitter.

The source of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that Granda was detained. According to the source, Granda has decided to return to Colombia where she has diplomatic immunity.

Asked by CNN, Paraguay’s attorney general, Sandra Quiñónez, told CNN that the country requested the arrest of Granda for her alleged participation in the 2005 murder of Cecilia Cubas, daughter of former President Raúl Cubas.

According to Quiñónez, Paraguay is the only country that did not lift the arrest warrant against Granda after Colombia’s peace agreement with the FARC.

Granda was part of the negotiating tables in Havana, Cuba, during the peace process between the Government of Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).

Since 1997 he was a member of the FARC General Staff and has represented that organization in various trips and events abroad.

The peace agreement between the Government of Juan Manuel Santos and the demobilized FARC guerrillas was definitively signed on November 24, 2016, after almost 5 years of negotiations in Havana.

Sanie López Garelli, from Asunción, Paraguay, and Fernando Ramos, from Bogotá, Colombia contributed to this report.

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