Fat lady...???The legendary™ leader of Latin America's largest guerrilla army may be dead, Colombia's defense minister said in an interview published Saturday.
Juan Manuel Santos told Semana magazine that Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda may have died on March 26, citing "a source who has never failed us."
Santos said the government was trying to corroborate the report. He said "the guerrillas say" Marulanda died of a heart attack, but noted that three bombing raids targeted Marulanda on that date. It was not clear whether "the guerrillas" included the source mentioned by Santos.
Asked by Semana whether the magazine could title its article "Sureshot is dead," Santos replied: "At your own risk."
Marulanda, whose real name is Pedro Antonio Marin, has led the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, for more than 40 years. Colombia's government has announced his death various times over the past 15 years, but each time proof that he was alive cropped up months later.
Marulanda, who is believed to be about 80, may have been replaced as FARC leader by a rebel ideologue known as Alfonso Cano, Santos said. The army has for months said it has Cano cornered in the southwest Colombian jungle and that his death or capture is imminent. FARC statements have denied Cano is in the area.
The FARC has suffered a number of blows this year, including the killing of its chief spokesman and a senior commander, and the defection of a female leader well regarded inside the rebel group.
Born to a poor peasant family, Marulanda was radicalized by the vicious civil wars that ravaged Colombia in the middle of the last century, pitting Liberals against Conservatives. He and other survivors of a 1964 army attack on a peasant community escaped to the mountains and formed the FARC, which grew over the decades to include a reputed 15,000 fighters. Marulanda's deadly aim in combat against the army earned him the name "Sureshot."
Notoriously reclusive, he is said to have never set foot in Colombia's capital, giving just a handful of interviews over the course of his life. Even senior commanders within the FARC speak of Marulanda with awe, and he is known to have the final word over any major decision taken by the FARC.
The guerrillas remain strong in many parts of Colombia, especially in the countryside, but many accuse them of having lost their Marxist ideology.