Manuel Pérez (guerrilla leader), Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetManuel Pérez (guerrilla leader)
Colombian guerilla leader
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Alfamén, Aragon, Spain
About Manuel Pérez (guerrilla leader)
- Manuel Pérez Martínez (May 9, 1943 – February 14, 1998), also known as "El Cura Pérez" ("Pérez the Priest"), was leader of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) over three decades.
- The ELN was the second-largest rebel group in Colombia at that time.Born on May 9, 1943 in Alfamén, Spain, Pérez was originally a priest, and worked in Spain, France, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
- Following his defrocking and expulsion from the Dominican Republic in 1968, he went to Colombia and joined the ELN in 1969.
- He became that group's leader some time in the 1970s and remained so until his death in 1998 from hepatitis B. Pérez was considered an extremist; one former guerrilla described him as "rigid and brutal".
- His leadership is thought to have significantly affected the ELN's ideology (Cuban-style Marxism and liberation theology) and methods (which led to accusations of kidnapping, torture, and execution).
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