By TOBY MUSE
The Associated Press
Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
"We know that inside the FARC, the version is that he died of natural causes, specifically from a heart attack," the ministry said. "Whether the death of Marulanda came in a bombardment or from natural causes, this would be the most serious blow this terrorist group has suffered."
Marulanda, whose real name is Pedro Antonio Marin, was believed to be about 80, and had led the peasant-based FARC since its founding in 1964.
Colombia's government has announced his death various times over the past 15 years, but each time proof that he was alive cropped up months later.
"If (the FARC) are going to say that the information we have is not true, they should show him," said the statement, which was read by the military's chief of staff, Adm. David Moreno.
The FARC did not immediately respond on the Web sites that publish rebel communiques.
Colombia has tried for years to bring down the FARC, which the government says is currently holding 700 hostages, including three U.S. military contractors and French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, who was running for president when the rebels kidnapped her in 2002.
President Uribe has made defeating the FARC his chief objective and on Saturday he said in a speech in a conflict-torn section of western Colombia that rebels "have called to tell the government they are disposed to to desert and free hostages beginning with Dr. Ingrid Betancourt" — but want guarantees they wouldn't be jailed.
Uribe said the government would ask the judiciary to grant such people "conditional liberty." He said rebels who desert and turn over hostages could benefit from a fund of up to $100 million and that guerrils who do so could "be dispatched immediately to a country such as France
It was the first time Uribe has made such an offer.
First word of Marulanda's possible death came earlier Saturday when the newsmagazine Semana quoted Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos as saying he had information that Marulanda died in the guerrillas' southern Colombian stronghold at the time of three bombing raids.
In the Semana interview, Santos
A senior defense official told The Associated Press that the military's main intelligence source is human and that communications intercepts support the claim — but he cautioned that Marulanda's actual death remains to be confirmed. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the issue, spoke on condition of anonymity.
Saturday's announcements and the Semana interview follow a series of rebel setbacks. The past year's blows include the March killings of rebel commander Raul Reyes and another member of the rebel's seven-man ruling Secretariat and the defection last weekend of a female leader well regarded inside the rebel group.
The military also said that Marulanda has been replaced as FARC leader by a rebel ideologue known as Alfonso Cano. The army has for months said it has Cano cornered in the southwest Colombian jungle and that his death or capture is imminent. FARC statements have denied Cano is in the area.
Born to a poor peasant family, Marulanda was radicalized by the vicious civil wars that ravaged Colombia
He and other survivors of a 1964 army attack on a peasant community escaped to the mountains and formed the FARC, which grew over the decades to include some 15,000 fighters. The defense minister now estimates the FARC's strength at around 9,000.
The guerrillas remain strong in many parts of Colombia
Marulanda's deadly aim in combat against the army earned him the name "Sureshot."
Notoriously reclusive, he is said to have never set foot in Colombia
Even senior commanders within the FARC speak of Marulanda with awe, and he is known to have the final word over any major decision taken by the FARC.
——
Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
Manuel Marulanda, the founder and top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, gestures as he arrives in Los Pozos, southern Colombia, in this Feb. 9, 2001 file photo. Colombia's Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos tells the weekly magazine Semana in interview published Saturday that Manuel Marulanda may have died in March, citing "a source who has never failed us". Marulanda has led the rebels for more than 40 years.(AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) 
(AP)
(AP)
Manuel Marulanda, the leader and top founder of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, listens questions during a news conference in La Sombra, southern Colombia, in this Saturday, March 10, 2001, file photo. Colombia's Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos tells the weekly magazine Semana in interview published Saturday that Manuel Marulanda may have died in March, citing "a source who has never failed us." Marulanda has led the rebels for more than 40 years.(AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
Comment: The spirit of a true revolutionary guerrilla leader never dies, it lives on and thrives in the lives of his or her followers who continue the armed battles on various battlegrounds, despite all odds, in continued support of the goals and objectives of the liberation war!
People in desperate situations are obliged to resort to desperate measures. We will have our complete liberation by any means necessary, despite the cowards amonst us!
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." ~ John F. Kennedy ~
35th US President (1961-63), 1917-1963
35th US President (1961-63), 1917-1963
Que Viva Sureshot! Que Viva All the Ches of the People!
Que Viva Zapata! Venceremos!
Che Peta-de-Aztlan
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
Sacra, Califas, Aztlan
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetworkAztlan_News/
http://www.networkaztlan.com/
C/S
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