BOGOTA, Colombia - Rodrigo Londono-Echeverry, also known as the alias Timochenko and as Timoleon Jimenez, will succeed Alfonso Cano, who was killed in a firefight with government security forces earlier this month.According to the US State Department's website, Timochenko "set the Farc's cocaine policies" and controlled the "production, manufacture and distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States and the world."
His 'wanted' profile on the site also holds him responsible for the "murder of hundreds of people who violated or interfered with the Farc's cocaine policies" and for ordering the kidnap of US citizens.
- A statement from Farc – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – said that Timochenko, 52, had been voted in unanimously by the group's secretariat, its leadership body.
- It added that the appointment would "guarantee the strategic plan for the takeover of power by the people." The pledge was a direct rebuttal to President Juan Manuel Santos's appeal for rebels to lay down their weapons following the death of Cano, which he called "the most devastating blow that this group has suffered in its history".
- According to Colombian authorities, Timochenko leads a group of around 800 rebels around the border with Venezuela and may be hiding in the Perija mountain chain, part of the Andes. One of Farc's longest-serving commanders, at least 117 arrest warrants have been issued for him, covering alleged crimes such as terrorism, murder, kidnapping and forced disappearances.
- Speaking during a trip to Washington, Carlos Pinzon, the Colombian defence minister, described Timochenko as someone "who thinks that terrorism, drug trafficking, kidnapping, the recruitment of minors and human rights violations is the alternative."
Mr Pinzon met with Leon Panetta, the US Defence Secretary, who guaranteed continued military aid and logistical support to Colombia in its fight against drug trafficking.Cano, who led Farc from 2008 until his death on November 4, was reportedly buried in a quiet ceremony on Tuesday at a cemetery on the outskirts of Bogota.
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