Colombian troops killed top rebel military chief Mono Jojoy in a raid on his jungle camp, striking a major blow against Latin America’s oldest insurgency, the government said on Thursday.
The operation was a political and military victory for President Juan Manuel Santos, a former defense minister who took office las month vowing to keep up a hard line with the guerrillas and reduce violence from the waning war.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is at its weakest in decades after eight years of a US-backed security campaign to hunt down rebel chiefs and drive guerrillas back into remote jungles and mountains.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The loss of Mono Jojoy, the FARC’s veteran military boss also known as Jorge Suarez Briceno, is unlikely to end Colombia’s long war, but it will restrict the group’s ability to carry out strategic attacks as they turn increasingly to hit-and-run tactics and protecting their commanders.
“This is the beginning of the end of 40 years of war in Colombia,” Santos said in New York, where he was attending the annual UN General Assembly meetings. He compared Jojoy to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Jojoy, 59, was killed in an air strike and ground raid involving more than 30 planes and 25 helicopters, the army said. As many as 20 other rebels were killed in the operation in the Macarena region, one of the FARC’s last strongholds.
The rebel leader’s hidden camp was a warren of tunnels including a concrete bunker to protect him from air strikes, Colombia’s defense minister told reporters.
The military retrieved 14 computers and 60 USB storage devices from the bunker, which could aid further military efforts against the FARC, Santos said.
Urban attacks, bombings and kidnappings have dropped sharply in recent years and the FARC now largely resorts to ambushes, improvised landmines and home-made mortars to attack army and police patrols rather than engaging troops directly.
However, suspected FARC rebels on Thursday assaulted part of Colombia’s largest coal mine, Cerrejon, intimidating workers and destroying vehicles in a rare attack on a foreign company.
The mine, operated by BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata, reported no major damage and said operations were normal.
Jojoy, known for his trademark black beret and thick mustache, was a member of the FARC’s seven-member secretariat. A military expert, he was outranked only by Alfonso Cano, the top FARC commander who the army says it is close to capturing.
The FARC’s founder, Manuel Marulanda, died in 2008, and two other senior commanders were killed that year. Once a force of 17,000 fighters, desertions have thinned its ranks to around 8,000. Many units are now engaged in cocaine trafficking.
For Santos, Jojoy’s death was good news as he seeks to consolidate security gains and push through reforms, including an overhaul of oil royalties, the health system and fiscal regulations.
A White House spokesman called Jojoy’s death “an important victory for Colombia” and said US President Barack Obama would discuss it with Santos when during their scheduled meeting yesterday in New York.
“Although the FARC may try to respond with further attacks, Jojoy’s death further underlines how the FARC has now passed a point of no return that will see it decompose further into smaller, local outfits,” said Robert Monks, a senior analyst with IHS Jane’s consultancy.
Jojoy spent more than three decades in the FARC and was an avid student of military strategy. He was accused of directing some of the group’s most deadly and high-profile operations. He masterminded the kidnapping of three US contractors who were later rescued in a military raid in 2008.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said yesterday. The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late on Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror. “At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X. Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled
RSS