Leadership | farc

FARC's Leadership

Manuel Marulanda (pictured left) was one of two founders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. He was in chage of a guerilla column in Colombia, and in 1961 founded the "independent republic" of Marquetalia. After Colombian military mounted an attack against Marquetalia, Marulanda and 40 of the guerilla fighters slipped through the army net. Marulanda brought together these fighters who created the center and basis of FARC. In 2008, Marulanda died of a heart attack.

Jacobo Arenas (pictured left) was the second founder of FARC. Arenas also took on the role as an ideological leader within the group. He was also one of the FARC figures involved in the organization and creation of the Patriotic Union political party in 1985. Arenas helped a great deal in laying down an organizational structure for the organization. Jacobo Arenas died in 1990, possibly due to cancer, but perhaps also due to diabetes or an ulcer, or even assassinated by a vindictive comrade (according to different versions). His death was considered a major blow to the FARC, as he was one of the persons responsible for transforming the FARC from a small guerilla force to a belligerent rebel army.

Alfonso Cano (pictured left) took over for Manuel Marulanda once he passed away. His main role was originally to serve as a sort of political commissary for the urban network of the guerrillas in Bogota, and in 1978 he was appointed chief of finances for the Central High Command. Cano took over for Arenas once he died, and after Marulanda's death, cano became the head leader of FARC. His reign was short, as he died during a military raid in 2011.

Jorge Briceño a.k.a. Mono Jojoy (pictured left) was second-in-command to Alfonso Cano and top military commander. Mono jojoy commanded the Eastern Bloc of the FARC and was a member of the FARC Secretariat. His role in the FARC was large, as he had been a member from the 1990s up until his death in 2010 after a Colombian army air strike. President Juan Manuel Santos said Jojoy's death was "the hardest blow" in the history of the rebel movement.

Rodrigo Londono (pictured left) also known as Timochenko is the FARC's present leader. By 1993, Timochenko was the head of the FARC's Magdalena Medio Bloc, which was thought to be one of the toughest guerrilla divisions to command. Soon after, he was named to the Secretariat, the seven-man commanding unit of the organization. Following the death of Alfonso Cano's death, Londono took over as head leader of the FARC.