Colombia troops kill top FARC rebel
Source: Agencies |
November 6, 2011, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
COLOMBIA'S main rebel group has suffered its second major setback in just over a year with the killing of its No. 1 commander, the bookish 63-year-old ideologue Alfonso Cano, officials say.
The death of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia chief on Friday hours after his nearby camp was bombed was celebrated by President Juan Manuel Santos as "the hardest blow to this organization in its entire history."
"I want to send a message to each and every member of this organization: demobilize. Because if you don't, as we've said so many times and as we've shown, you will end up in jail or in a tomb," Santos said in a brief televised address.
"Viva Colombia!" he exclaimed.
The killing is anything but a fatal blow, however, to the nearly half-century-old peasant-based group known by its initials FARC.
Financed mostly by drug trafficking, it is comprised largely of peasants with few other opportunities in a country where land ownership is highly concentrated in the hands of a few.
Cano, 63, was killed in combat in a remote area of the southwestern state of Cauca along with four other rebels an hour before dusk, about 200 meters from the bunker he apparently fled after the morning bombing, said Admiral Roberto Garcia, the navy chief.
He had shaven off his trademark beard and his thick glasses were not found with him, Garcia said.
Bullet wounds
Officials did not say whether Cano was armed when he died, how many bullet wounds he had or where. Authorities released a photograph of Cano's head in which his face did not appear disfigured. Garcia said five rebels also were captured while another five or so fled.
Cano had been the top target of Colombia's armed forces authorities since September 2010, when they killed the insurgency's military chief, Jorge Briceno, in a bombing raid in the southern Macarena massif.
Former president Andres Pastrana, who knew Cano from failed 1998-2002 peace talks with the rebels, said the death "has to make the FARC think it's losing the war."
Cano's body was taken to Popayan, the Cauca state capital, where Santos and the entire military high command planned to fly.
The death of Cano, whose real name was Guillermo Leon Saenz, does not signal the imminent demise of Latin America's last remaining leftist rebel army, analysts said.
"This is a blow to the FARC's morale," said Victor Ricardo, Pastrana's peace commissioner during the failed peace talks. "But by no means can people imagine that this can bring an end to the FARC."
The FARC, which is believed to number about 9,000, has a disciplined military hierarchy and someone is always in line to advance, he said.
The rebels' leadership has suffered a series of withering blows beginning in March 2008, when the FARC's foreign minister, Raul Reyes, was killed in a bombing raid on a rebel camp across the border in Ecuador. That same month, the FARC's revered co-founder, Manuel Marulanda, died in a mountain hideout of a heart attack. Cano, the rebels' chief ideologue, was named to succeed him.
The death of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia chief on Friday hours after his nearby camp was bombed was celebrated by President Juan Manuel Santos as "the hardest blow to this organization in its entire history."
"I want to send a message to each and every member of this organization: demobilize. Because if you don't, as we've said so many times and as we've shown, you will end up in jail or in a tomb," Santos said in a brief televised address.
"Viva Colombia!" he exclaimed.
The killing is anything but a fatal blow, however, to the nearly half-century-old peasant-based group known by its initials FARC.
Financed mostly by drug trafficking, it is comprised largely of peasants with few other opportunities in a country where land ownership is highly concentrated in the hands of a few.
Cano, 63, was killed in combat in a remote area of the southwestern state of Cauca along with four other rebels an hour before dusk, about 200 meters from the bunker he apparently fled after the morning bombing, said Admiral Roberto Garcia, the navy chief.
He had shaven off his trademark beard and his thick glasses were not found with him, Garcia said.
Bullet wounds
Officials did not say whether Cano was armed when he died, how many bullet wounds he had or where. Authorities released a photograph of Cano's head in which his face did not appear disfigured. Garcia said five rebels also were captured while another five or so fled.
Cano had been the top target of Colombia's armed forces authorities since September 2010, when they killed the insurgency's military chief, Jorge Briceno, in a bombing raid in the southern Macarena massif.
Former president Andres Pastrana, who knew Cano from failed 1998-2002 peace talks with the rebels, said the death "has to make the FARC think it's losing the war."
Cano's body was taken to Popayan, the Cauca state capital, where Santos and the entire military high command planned to fly.
The death of Cano, whose real name was Guillermo Leon Saenz, does not signal the imminent demise of Latin America's last remaining leftist rebel army, analysts said.
"This is a blow to the FARC's morale," said Victor Ricardo, Pastrana's peace commissioner during the failed peace talks. "But by no means can people imagine that this can bring an end to the FARC."
The FARC, which is believed to number about 9,000, has a disciplined military hierarchy and someone is always in line to advance, he said.
The rebels' leadership has suffered a series of withering blows beginning in March 2008, when the FARC's foreign minister, Raul Reyes, was killed in a bombing raid on a rebel camp across the border in Ecuador. That same month, the FARC's revered co-founder, Manuel Marulanda, died in a mountain hideout of a heart attack. Cano, the rebels' chief ideologue, was named to succeed him.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
