The death of FARC leader “Alfonso Cano” is the guerrilla organization’s “biggest blow in all its history,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday just after midnight, hours after the South American country’s most wanted man was killed by army troops.
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“The number one of the FARC is dead,” said Santos on his website. “This is the strongest blow that has been given to this organization in its entire history.”
“This is very important news for Colombia, for Colombians and for the world,” Santos’ Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said in a televised press conference.
“Today, many who were victims of his decisions to kidnap, to extort and to kill must feel a lot calmer,” the defense chief said.
Pinzon called on guerrillas of the FARC “to demobilize. We invite you to leave this stance of violence … you have another option.”
In the press conference, the defense chief announced that Cano’s body had been taken to the city of Popayan, capital of the southwestern Cauca department, where the FARC leader waas killed.