FARC’s top leader in hospital after stroke

Rodrigo Londoño, a.k.a. "Timochenko"

Rodrigo Londoño, the leader of Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC, was taken to a hospital on Sunday after suffering a stroke.

Londoño, also known as “Timochenko,” was “in a stable and satisfactory condition,” doctors from the hospital of the central-Colombian city of Villavicencio told press on Sunday afternoon.

According to the medics, the FARC chief will have to remain hospitalized until Tuesday.

Another central command member of the FARC, Felix Antonio Muñoz, a.k.a. “Pastor Alape,” told local press that the recently disarmed rebel leader “is conscious and making jokes” at the same press conference.

Londoño, 59, became the FARC’s supreme leader in 2010 after the death of “Alfonso Cano” who was killed in a military raid.

During the peace talks, “Timochenko” stayed in Colombia to maintain control over the group’s military and criminal activities while the number two of the group, ”

According to the former prosecutor general said the guerrilla leader and the remaining six members of the central command would be charged with at least 118 war crimes before a transitional justice system by the Prosecutor General’s Office. This number could grow significantly once the court is in force and victims can file charges never formally filed.

Among the existing charges are those of homicide, forced disappearances, mass displacement, child recruitment and kidnapping, including high profile kidnappings like that of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.

Londoño ultimately ended his guerrilla’s group’s 52-year armed conflict with the government when signing a peace agreement and a ceasefire in September 2016.

The ongoing peace process is overseen by the United Nations amid concerns over ongoing political violence by other illegal armed groups and FARC dissident groups.

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