Colombia’s Defense Minister said on Friday that fallen FARC leader “Alfonso Cano” was no ordinary guerrilla leader and it will be almost impossible for the FARC to replace him.
Juan Carlos Pinzon said, “the loss of this individual for the FARC is not as simple as saying that we are looking for a leader and then simply name someone as leader. The effect on the morale of the organization is very important. Alias ‘Cano’ was no ordinary leader, he will be almost irreplaceable because of what he represented.”
The FARC appointed alias “Timochenko” as the new leader of the left wing guerrilla organization on Wednesday, amid much speculation regarding the appointment of a succesor.
According to the defense minister, five guerrilla fighters have demobilized in the last 24 hours in four regions of the country. Four of these demobilized fighters had been with the FARC for over 10 years.
Since the November 4 death of the supreme FARC leader 23 other fighters have also demobilized.
Pinzon argues that, “The people must be reflecting that if this is what happened to Alfonso Cano, other guerrillas must expect the same. That is surely what many of the young people and the middle men must be thinking.”
Juan Carlos Pinzon argues that now is the time for demobilization and that “this Robin Hood ideology no longer works in Colombia and is not applicable.”
Alfonso Cano took over the FARC leadership in 2008 following the death of longtime leader “Manuel Marulanda.” Cano was considered an influential political ideologue within the guerrilla organization and implemented an aggressive strategy of hit-and-run ambush attacks which led to an increasing number of deaths and injuries of Colombian soldiers.
