Capture of kidnpper a setback for FARC

BBC:

Colombian security forces have clashed with a Marxist rebel group and captured one of its most notorious kidnappers.

Soldiers fought Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebels in the central province of Cundinamarca, killing 10 and capturing another eight.

Among those taken was a leader known by the alias "El Negro Antonio", whom authorities have been seeking for well over a decade.

One soldier was killed in the combat and a kidnap victim rescued.

"El Negro Antonio" is a Farc guerrilla with 33 arrest warrants outstanding against him.

The operation took place in the mountain range of Sumapaz in Cundinamarca province.

It is a severe setback for the Farc, not just because of the number of rebels killed and captured, but because it hinders its plans to reopen a movement corridor into the capital, Bogota.

It was along this corridor that El Negro Antonio used to move kidnap victims out of Bogota and into the rebel-controlled lowland jungles.

...

FARC has been trying to recover from numerous setbacks in the last year and this is another added to those that appears to have strategic significance. Between dope and kidnapping they are having trouble meeting their operating expenses and recovering from the attrition of their forces.

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