Colombian Army Kills Top Farc Rebel "Mono Jojoy"

[emindead]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11399914

 

One of the most senior leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) has been killed, say reports.

Jorge Briceno, also known as Mono Jojoy, died in a military air strike in the Macarena region, known to be a Farc stronghold, local media said.

President Jose Manuel Santos said Jojoy's death was "the hardest blow" in the history of the rebel movement.

The Marxist Farc rebels have been fighting the Colombian authorities since the mid-1960s.

Jojoy was believed to be leader of the Farc's strongest fighting division, the Eastern Bloc, and had eluded Colombian security forces for almost 10 years.

The United States had offered a reward of up to $5m (£3.2m) for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

"A military source has confirmed that it defeated a group of rebels during an operation involving the four branches of the military," Colombia's attorney general Guillermo Mendoza said in a radio interview.

He said soldiers had found the body of Jojoy.

Another 20 rebels were also killed in the attack, an official at the defence ministry told the AFP news agency.

Violent month

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Bogota says Jojoy's death will be a major coup for Colombia's new President Juan Manuel Santos.

It also leaves the Eastern Bloc without a leader, which is likely to seriously affect rebel morale, says our correspondent.

The rebels have said they are prepared to find a political solution to the conflict, and have appealed to Mr Santos to enter talks.

But they have stepped up their violent campaign since Mr Santos took office on 7 August, killing more than 40 security personnel in the past month.

Mr Santos has said the rebels must give up their arms and release all the hostages they are holding before talks can take place.

It comes a few days after another guerrilla Farc commander, Sixto Cabana, was shot dead along with 27 other rebels close to the border with Ecuador.

The US State Department said Mr Cabana has been behind the export of hundreds of tons of cocaine around the world and was responsible for hundreds of murders.

[orcus116]

Ok now for us Americans:

em, on a scale of 1 to Pablo Escobar, how problematic of a Columbian was this guy?

[emindead]

Considering that this guy ordered most of the bloodiest attacks on this soil: 9.5/Pablo Escobar.

The guy who was the equivalent of Pablo Escobar in hatred died last year of a heart attack: Manuel Marulanda AKA 'Tirofijo'(or 'Sure-shot' in English).

The guy killed this morning was the new #2 (he had been active since 1971).

There's still THE leader of the FARC, Alfonso Cano. If the Army gets him, we most likely will finally cry "victory!" and this internal war will finally end.