Following confirmation of the fall of FARC commander “Jeronimo Galeano” during combat in the Huila department, Colombia’s armed forces have dispatched additional counter-insurgent forces with the intent to capture or kill supreme FARC commander “Alfonso Cano.”
The identity of the fallen FARC member killed Sunday was confirmed to be a top FARC leader, Arquimedes Muñoz Villamil, alias “Jeronimo Galeano,” by Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera in a press release Monday.
“This criminal was part of the General Staff of the FARC and was the head of the Central Joint Command of the narco-terrorist organization, leading 16 teams that operated from Tolima, Huila, Cauca and Valle de Cauca, whose mission it was to provide security rings to the top FARC leader Alfonso Cano,” Rivera said.
Jeronimo Galeano fell along with three other FARC members, including another leader of the Central Joint Command, alias “Yamileth,” during combat with the Fifth Army Division as part of the army and police’s collaborative offensive against the FARC.
“Alfonso Cano will also fall. We are conducting offensive operations against him, to achieve his neutralization, capture or fall, so that this nightmare that Colombians have suffered for so many decades will end soon,” the defense minister said.
Troops confiscated six rifles, ammunition, three radios, binoculars, field equipment, a laptop and about $2,500 in cash, money that is alleged to be the product of extortive actions against the people of Huila and Tolima.
The army’s offensive operations will continue to be retained to the border between the Huila and Tolima departments as it targets the supreme leader of the terrorist organization.