Colombian authorities say feared FARC ringleader was among seven guerrillas that were killed in the southwestern department of Nariño Monday.
The army reported the death of the seven alleged FARC members Sunday after combat in the municipality of Leiva, Nariño.
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Following exams by the army and the National Coroner’s Office, authorities confirmed that one of th seven dead men is “Caliche.”
According to Jorge Alberto Segura Manonegra, the commander of the army’s 3rd Brigade, prosecution investigators had to undertake dental and fingerprint tests on the body of one of the killed men to determine whether or not he is rebel leader “Caliche,” who is considered the natural successor to key FARC commander and Secretariat member Pablo Catatumbo.
Caliche has been head of the elite Jacobo Arenas Column for the past ten years and was reported as killed once before.
Several media reported his death in October 2011 after FARC clashed with the National army but this was proven wrong as Caliche continued to carry out operations in rural Colombia, and even took a video of FARC in mid combat with the army in August 2012.
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The Colombian government had offered a reward of $1 million for Caliche.