The BBC is reporting that a major FARC leader, Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas, aka, Jorge Briceño, aka “El Mono Jojoy” has been killed in a military assault: Colombian army kills top Farc rebel leader Mono Jojoy:
[He] died in a military air strike in the Macarena region, known to be a Farc stronghold, local media said.
[…]
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.
This is a major blow to the FARC. El Mono Jojoy was arguably the most significant military commander within the group and was second in significance only to Alfonso Cano, who is the overall leader of the guerrilla group.
As Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said today: “The symbol of terror in Colombia has fallen.”
This is bigger than the deal of Raúl Reyes and even arguably bigger than the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and company back in 2008.
If anything it is a major success for the newly elected Santos administration. Santos said “This is my greeting to the FARC” and called it “historic news” for the country.
September 24th, 2024 at 6:24 am
[...] me over at PoliBlog: Mono Jojoy Killed Filed Under: Latin America, Quick Picks, Steven Taylor, World [...]