THE Colombian army has killed the security chief of the Marxist FARC's top commander, in what officials claim is a blow against the guerrillas.Alirio Rojas Bocanegra, known as "The Grandfather," headed the FARC's Central Block tasked with guarding Alfonso Cano, who took over as leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia after its founder Manuel Marulanda Velez was killed in 2008.
President Juan Manuel Santos praised the military operation that took place in western Colombia, and used tough talk in pledging to make further inroads against the rebel movement he has described as "narco-terrorists."
"We are dealing with FARC central command in a systematic way: They put up a leader, and we take him down," Santos said during a public appearance in Sincelejo, in northern Colombia.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivero, told reporters that the army is "increasingly close to Alfonso Cano, and we are shutting down all fronts of action and mobilisation."
Bocanegra died Friday high up in the mountains at Rioblanco, in an operation that also killed Manuel Cepeda Vargas, also known as "Ruben," the commission chief responsible for FARC propaganda and its radio station, Voices of the Resistance.
The FARC, with an estimated 8000 fighters, is Latin America's largest and longest-fighting insurgency with 47 years of armed struggle.