Colombian authorities celebrate capture of rebel boss

Bogota - Colombian authorities stressed Wednesday the importance of the capture of rebel boss Heli Mejia, known as "Martin Sombra" and regarded as one of the historic leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Mejia was captured Tuesday in the municipality of Saboya, in the central province of Boyaca, shortly after returning to the country from Venezuela, Colombian authorities said.

Colombian police chief, General Oscar Naranjo, noted on Tuesday that Mejia had belonged to FARC for 35 years, but the rebel leader himself corrected the figure to 40. He was one of the earliest members of FARC, a group formed in 1964.

On Wednesday, Naranjo said that the capture of Mejia is even more important than that of Rodrigo Granda, known as FARC's "foreign minister" and who was captured in Venezuela and taken to Colombia - before being released last year at the request of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to encourage a hostage release.

"Martin Sombra," a member of the FARC leadership, was considered one of the top aides of rebel boss Pedro Antonio Marin, 77, better known as "Manuel Marulanda Velez" or "Tirofijo."

According to police, the rebel founded seven FARC fronts and was one of the group's spokesmen in peace talks with the government of president Andres Pastrana (1998-2002) and in talks with Catholic Church representatives in 2004.

"Martin Sombra" himself said that he was in charge of punishing the rank-and-file rebel who had a relationship with hostage Clara Rojas, a former Colombian vice presidential candidate kidnapped in February 2002 along with former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and who was released last month.

Emmanuel, now three-and-a-half, was born of that relationship and is currently living with his mother.

Mejia did not specify how he punished the boy's father.

The authorities also said it was "Martin Sombra" who taught Spanish to the three US contractors held hostage by FARC since February 2003.

Naranjo explained that the capture of the rebel followed intelligence tasks involving informants who are to get a total of some 908,000 dollars as rewards.

By tasco66 on Feb 27, 2008, 08:24 in Politics & the war.

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jorgegdiaz says on Feb 27, 2008, 17:31: ... look, look, it´s not the guy ! http://www.anncol.nu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=410&Ite... "To err is human - and to blame it on a computer is even more so."Robert Orben 0 funny, 0 helpful.

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