The FARC replaced “Fabian Ramirez,” the commander of the guerrillas’ Southern Bloc who reportedly was killed in an air raid last month, television network RCN reported Monday.
According to RCN, police intelligence found that also within FARC ranks there is uncertainty about the whereabouts of Ramirez. Colombian authorities on two occasions claimed the commander of the FARC’s drug-running Southern Bloc was killed in an air strike on November 20, but also admitted not knowing exactly what happened to Ramirez.
The television network, citing police intelligence sources, reported that the FARC’s Secretariat has been in a hurry to replace the commander and named Javier Yanguma, alias “Orlando Porcelana” as his successor.
The FARC Southern Bloc is considered the guerrillas’ wealthiest blocs because of its direct involvement in the cultivation and trafficking of drugs in the south of Colombia.