An FARC guerrilla allegedly in charge of pushing for the return of the rebel group to the rural area south of the Colombian capital of Bogota was killed, newspaper El Tiempo reported Tuesday.
Commander of the army’s 13th Brigade General Juan Pablo Amaya said in a press conference that alias “R1” died in a confrontation with a territorial combat battalion assigned to his unit, in the locality of Uribe in the central department of Meta, which borders Cundinamarca department.
The guerrilla fighter was allegedly the second in command of the FARC’s 51st Front and was also assigned ideological and financial tasks.
Amaya also said that R1 had the responsibility of expanding and supplying guerrilla structures which were “trying to enter the Cundinamarca department through the Sumapaz grassland.”
The Sumapaz grassland region is a rural area south of the Colombian capital, in which the FARC had a presence until they were driven out by the military in the early 2000s. The region is considered strategically vital, because if reconquered it would give the FARC direct access to Bogota.
The real name of R1 was not given. In the operation a pistol and four grenades were seized as well as food, money and other supplies.