Colombia Says Top Rebel Commander Is Dead Manuel Marulanda - Reuters go to original
Colombia's government says the founder and chief commander of the FARC rebel group has died. Reuters' Paul Chapman reports. Soundbite: Navy Admiral David Moreno
Bogota - The founder and top commander of Colombia's FARC rebel force, Manuel Marulanda, has died after more than 40 years fighting the state from jungle and mountain camps, the government said on Saturday. The death of Manuel Marulanda, known as Sureshot, who organized the Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla force in the 1960s, would be the heaviest blow suffered by Latin America's oldest surviving insurgency, already weakened by a serious of military setbacks. "Through military intelligence, we learned Pedro Antonio Marin, alias Manuel Marulanda or Sureshot, the principal chief of the FARC, is dead," the Defense Ministry said in a statement. "The cause of death is still to be confirmed." Rumors that Marulanda had died or fallen seriously ill have surfaced before, but they have never been confirmed. He was in his late 70s and has not been seen in public since failed peace talks more than five years ago. The legendary guerrilla chief either died of a heart attack, according to rebel information, or during military bombardments in late March in the southern jungles where he spent much of guerrilla life, the ministry said. A shy, peasant farmer, Marulanda took up arms in a left-wing insurgency fighting for social justice in the 196Os. But after four decades of combat, the FARC has been weakened by President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed security campaign. With little popular support, Marulanda's rebels have been driven into remote jungles and mountains, but remain a potent force in some areas, bolstered by funds from drug smuggling. U.S. and E.U. officials list the FARC as terrorists. FARC: A Dying Giant Violence from the conflict has eased as Uribe, backed by billions in U.S. military aid, has sent troops to retake areas once under guerrilla control. Often using homemade landmines and mortars, the FARC is still battling security forces. But several top FARC commanders have been killed or captured recently as the rebels struggle against increasing military pressure and growing desertions from their ranks. Experts said Marulanda's authority had been a cohesive element in the FARC, which during its peak had 17,000 fighters but is now closer to 9,000 combatants. "The FARC is like a dying giant, dying slowly, but this is the beginning of the end," Pablo Casas, an analyst at Bogota think tank Security and Democracy. "I don't see any factor they can use to keep a strong structure. It will start collapsing." The FARC's No. 2, Raul Reyes, was killed in March when Colombian troops raided his base inside Ecuador, in an operation that triggered a regional crisis with Venezuela and Ecuador briefly ordering troops to Colombia's frontier. Colombian and U.S. officials say files found on Reyes' computer indicate Venezuela's President Hugh Chavez and Ecuadorean leader Rafael Correa provided financial support or backing to the rebels. Both leaders deny those charges. While Marulanda's death may be a blow to the FARC's structure, questions linger over the fate of scores of hostages the guerrillas have held for years, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans. Attempts to broker a deal to free kidnap victims are deadlocked over rebel demands that Uribe demilitarize a rural zone for negotiations. He refuses, saying that would allow the FARC to rearm and regroup in a strategic region. (Additional reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota)
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Americas & Beyond | May 2008 
Manuel Marulanda - Reuters
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