Colombians celebrate killing of FARC leader

With a bounty on his head of $3.7 million, guerrilla kingpin Alfonso Cano was killed by Colombian troops together with his girlfriend and several other rebels in a gun battle.

6 November 2011, 12:00am

1 min read

Reuters reports that Colombians have since been celebrating the death of the FARC rebel leader, which increases the hopes of finally seeing the end to Latin America’s biggest insurgency which has been going for almost 50 years.

Colombian officials said forces bombed a FARC jungle hideout in the southwestern Cauca region. Pictures of the death Cano, whose real name was Guillermo León Sáenz,showed him with his eyes wide open and the thick glasses dangling from his neck.

The Guardian reports that Cano’s body was identified through fingerprinting. Defence minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said Cano was shot in the hip, the groin and the neck.

In a victory for President Juan Manuel Santos, who had adopted a hard-line security policy, Cano’s death was described as “the most resounding blow to this organisation in its entire history”. In a message to the FARC fighters, Santos urged them to demobilise: “Otherwise you will end up in a prison or in a tomb. We will achieve peace.”