Colombian authorities say the head of security for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the right-hand man of the guerrilla group\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 leader has been killed.\n<\/p>\n
Officials said Ernesto Hurtado Penaloza, also known as “el Negro Eliecer,” was a close aide to the FARC’s top commander Rodrigo Londono Echeverri, known by his nom de guerre “Timochenko.”\n<\/p>\n
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said \u00c5\u201cel Negro Eliecer” was killed on Sunday in a clash with army forces around the town of Hacari, which is located in the country\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s northern state of North Santander on the border with Venezuela.\n<\/p>\n
“Following a special operation by our military and police forces, this person was shot down, along with a woman guerrilla who served as the chief of finances for the faction managed by ‘el Negro Eliecer’,” he said.\n<\/p>\n
‘El Negro Eliecer’ was the commander of the Antonio Santos Mobile Column — a sub-division of the FARC\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s 33rd Front, and had a bounty of $270,000 on his head.\n<\/p>\n
He was reportedly a key associate of the head of the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) dissident faction Victor Navarro, alias “Megateo”, who is one of the biggest drug lords in northern Colombia.\n<\/p>\n
FARC is Latin America’s oldest guerilla group and has been fighting the Colombian government since 1964.\n<\/p>\n
The group has more than 9,000 fighters operating across a large swathe of the eastern jungles of the Andean nation.\n<\/p>\n
MP\/AS
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