Elda Neyis Mosquera

Who is Elda Neyis Mosquera?

Elda Neyis Mosquera García is the former commander of the 47th Front of FARC-EP, a communist rebel group in Colombia. She surrendered to the Colombian Military on May 18, 2008. She was subsequently tried in court and found guilty of massacres, kidnapping, murder, among others, and sentenced to 33 years in jail, but on March 6, 2009 it was announced that she was to be released from prison to serve as "promoter of peace," and to serve as an example to other rebels to entice them to surrender.

Moreno was a member of FARC for 24 years prior to her surrender. At a news conference in Medellín, Moreno said she surrendered because of increasing Colombian army pressure, the deterioration of rebel forces and her fear she might be killed by her own troops for the $900,000 bounty on her head, in the wake of a previous FARC commander having been murdered by his own bodyguards.