FARC leader is dead, Colombia says
(CNN) — The leader of Colombia’s largest leftist rebel group is dead, a spokesman for the nation’s defense ministry said Saturday.
Pedro Antonio Marin, known as Manuel Marulanda Vilez and nicknamed Tirofijo, is believed to have died of a heart attack, ministry spokesman Juan Manuel Santos said.
He must be in hell, Santos told a reporter from Semana magazine.
Marulanda, who was believed to be in his late 70s, has led the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, for decades.
The information that we have is that he has gone already, he added. Asked whether he was saying that Marulanda had died, Santos said, That’s what a source who has never failed us tells us.
Speaking later, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe stopped short of saying Marulanda is dead, but he also said that the news comes from a reliable source.
