LatinNews Daily Report - 21 May 2013

SECURITY| Another heavy blow to the Farc. On 20 May Colombia’s defence ministry announced the death of ‘Negro Eliécer’ (Ernesto Hurtado Peñaloza), the leader of the insurgent Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc)’s mobile ‘Antonio Santos’ column, during a military operation in the rural Hacarí municipality of Norte de Santander department. According to a ministry statement, Hurtado, a long-time Farc military commander, was the right-hand man of the Farc’s current top leader, ‘Timochenko’ (Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri), who is heading up the current peace talks between the Farc and the Colombian government in Havana, Cuba. He was also believed to have links to a local drug trafficker known as ‘Megateo’, a former member of the also insurgent Ejército Popular de Liberación, who is believed to have formed a new drug trafficking criminal organisation that is currently operating in the area. Thirteen other Farc guerrillas were also killed in the attack that was carried out by the army on intelligence gathered by the national police.  Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón later added in a radio interview that Hurtado’s death was “A significant blow to the Farc as he was one of the main contacts between the insurgent group and drug traffickers operating in the area”.     

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