MANUEL MARULANDA (TIRO FIJO) DIED AFTER 40 YEARS OF GUERRILLA WAR IN THE REMOTE JUNGLES AND MOUNTAINS OF COLOMBIA

     Manuel Marulanda, alias "Tiro Fijo," meaning"sure shot",  the founder and top commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), died last March 26 at 6:30 p.m. He was replaced by the 55 years old ideologist Guillermo Sáenz Vargas, alias “Alfonso Cano. Marulanda died after more than four decades fighting a fierce guerrilla war in the remote jungles and mountains of Colombia. In 1964, he organized the FARC, inspired and supported by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. His death is the heaviest setback in the history of his terrorist organization.

     Colombia's military intelligence sources had previously reported that Marulanda died in late March.  The news was confirmed by rebel commander Timoleon Jimenez in a video played on Venezuelan-based television channel Telesur. "Our maximum leader, Manuel Marulanda Velez, died of a heart attack on March 26... in the arms of his companion," Jimenez said, wearing a  combat fatigue uniform and standing before a Colombian flag in an unknown location.

     Born on May 12, 1930, into a peasant family in the municipality of Quindio, Marulanda began his guerrilla activities when he was very young, at age 20. In 1968 he founded the FARC and became its commander as it evolved from a ragtag army into Latin America's largest and oldest-surviving insurgency. Marulanda, whose real name was Pedro Antonio Marin, was one of Colombia's most hunted men. He was reclusive and disliked publicity.  He was last seen in public more than five years ago, in combat fatigues and with his trademark yellow towel slung over his shoulder. Under his command, the FARC grew into an irregular army of 17,000-member that controlled large parts of Colombian country.