Top FARC commander believed dead

Reuters:

The top commander and founder of Colombia's FARC rebel force is dead after more than 40 years fighting against the state from jungle and mountain camps, a government source 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.

Rumors that Marulanda, whose real name is Pedro Antonio Marin, had died or fallen seriously ill have surfaced before, but they have never been confirmed. He was in his late 70s.

"The information we have is that he is dead. We are not sure of the circumstances, but he is dead," said the top government source who asked not to be identified.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told Semana magazine a source had told authorities Marulanda died at the end of March. He said there was heavy bombing in the area where officials believed Marulanda was at the time, but added that rebel information said he had died of a heart attack.

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Perhaps the bombing provoked a heart attack. This is another blow for the leftist group of narco terrorist and good news for the rest of the world. Only lightweight thinkers like Hugo Chavez and his buddy Correa in Ecuador will miss him. The leadership in FARC has suffered several fatal blows in recent weeks. Colombia deserves credit for finally defeating this long running insurgency, and the Bush administration deserves credit for helping them. It is just another success story in the war on terror.

This later AP report appears to confirm the death. "... Marulanda died on March 26 at 6:30 p.m. amid a heavy military bombardment, Admiral David Moreno, chief of the general staff of the Colombian armed forces, said in a statement." If true , he has been dead for two months and it might explain why Karina turned herself in.