Manuel Pérez Martínez (May 9, 1943 – February 14, 1998), also known as "El Cura Pérez" ("Pérez the Priest"), was the leader of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) for over three decades. The ELN was the second-largest rebel group in Colombia at that time."Manuel Pérez Martínez: Colombian revolutionary"
retrieved June 12, 2019

Biography

Born in Alfamén,

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, Pérez was originally a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

, and worked in Spain,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, Haiti, and the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. Following his defrocking and expulsion from the Dominican Republic in 1968, he went to Colombia and joined the ELN in 1969. He became the group's leader some time in the 1970s and remained so until his death at age 54 in 1998 from

hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. ...

."Colombian rebel leader dies"
by Timothy Ross, BBC News, April 6, 1998, retrieved February 18, 2006 His leadership is thought to have significantly affected the ELN's ideology (

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n-style

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

and

liberation theology Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". I ...

References

1943 births 1998 deaths Deaths from hepatitis Infectious disease deaths in Colombia Members of the National Liberation Army (Colombia) People from the Province of Zaragoza Spanish emigrants to Colombia {{Colombia-bio-stub