The Colombian government raised the reward for the capture of one of the FARC's commanders to 5 billion pesos (US$ 2.4 million) to increase the pressure on Colombia's largest rebel group.
The Ministry of Defense also increased the reward on the capture of any of the FARC's regional commanders to 300 million pesos (US$145 thousand) and members of its members of staff to one billion pesos (US$484 thousand).
The FARC lost three members of its secretariat in 2008. Supreme leader Manuel Marulanda died of natural causes, 'foreign minister' Raúl Reyes was killed when the army bombed his Ecuadorean camp and Ivan Ríos was murdered by one of his own men.
The new reward system is accompanied by an intense campaign against the recruitment of new guerrillas and a constant call on members of the FARC to join teh demobilizing program.
The FARC is Latin America's largest and oldest insurgency and considered a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union.
