Alfonso Cano, leader of the FARC who was killed by the army Friday, was killed by a single bullet to the neck, said the coroner’s report.
According to the technical report, the wound was caused by a high-speed bullet fired at long-range. The conclusions are based on the fact that there are no signs of smoke, nor burning grains of gunpowder on his skin.
The projectile had pierced Cano’s jugular in an area of the mediastinum that houses important vital organs such as the aortic arch, trachea, and esophagus, among others.
Ballistics tests ruled that it was a clean shot across the neck, and once that area had been breached, there would have been little or nothing that could have been done to save his life.
According to the Director of the Institute of Legal Medicine, Carlos Eduardo Valdes, the coroner had seven experts working nine hours on the autopsy as there are special protocols for deaths that occur in combat.