COLOMBIA: Colombian military confirms they killed a FARC commander close to the chief peace negotiator and at least five others after bombing a rebel camp

Record ID: 353785

  • Title: COLOMBIA: Colombian military confirms they killed a FARC commander close to the chief peace negotiator and at least five others after bombing a rebel camp
  • Date: 1st February 2013
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (FEBRUARY 01, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF DEFENCE MINISTRY ENTRANCE TO DEFENCE MINISTRY SIGN READING: DEFENCE MINISTRY GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF WANTED SIGNS POSTED BY MILITARY, INCLUDING NAME ALIAS JACOBO ARANGO AND OTHER FARC MEMBERS PHOTOGRAPHER AT NEWS CONFERENCE COLOMBIAN ARMY COMMANDER ALEJANDRO NAVAS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE)
  • Embargoed: 16th February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Crime,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAEZO5R3XTXOB3PCD3L8P1EJEU7
  • Story Text: Colombian government forces have killed a FARC brigade commander close to the Marxist group's chief peace negotiator, the defense minister said on Friday (February 01), as combat heats up after the expiration of a unilateral guerrilla ceasefire.
    Alias 'Jacobo Arango' was among those who died after an army airstrike that devastated a FARC camp in the northeastern Cordoba province.
    Arango was close to chief FARC peace negotiator Ivan Marquez, who was also Arango's direct commander, and he had been a rebel for more than three decades.
    Fighting has intensified since a unilateral FARC ceasefire expired on Jan. 20, with guerrillas taking hostages, killing soldiers and blowing up oil and energy infrastructure. Government security forces have also stepped up operations.
    The violence comes even though the two sides have been discussing a peace accord in Cuba and could affect the progress of those discussions.
    The area where Arango was killed had historically been a region where right-wing paramilitaries fought guerrillas for control and is near the site where paramilitary leaders agreed with the government to demobilize in the early 2000s.
    Today the region is a microcosm of the security challenges plaguing many of the areas of Colombia where guerrillas and powerful gangs linked to the former paramilitaries fight for control over drugs and territory.
    At Colombia's defence ministry on Friday, army commander Alejandro Navas confirmed the death of Arango.

    "We confirm the killings of six FARC terrorists in the Cordoba province, among them alias Jacobo Arango, head of this organisation in northeastern Colombia," he said.
    President Juan Manuel Santos Santos has said he wants to achieve a peace deal within a year, and the FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, have called for a bilateral truce. However Santos has rejected the idea of a truce until a deal is signed.
    The conflict in the world's top producer of cocaine has been exacerbated by drugs, which fund guerrillas and criminal gangs. Areas with multiple armed groups and those along major drug routes are the hardest hit.
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