FARC's top leader is dead, Colombia says

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By Tyler Bridges | Miami Herald

The legendary leader of Colombia's FARC guerrillas has died, the country's defense minister says, a development that if true would be the latest and most severe blow to Latin America's largest rebel group.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told the Colombian weekly Semana in an interview published Saturday that Manuel ''Sure Shot'' Marulanda died March 26. He cited a confidential source "who has never failed us."'

Santos said guerrilla sources had reported that Marulanda died from a heart attack. But he added that government forces bombed Marulanda's presumed jungle hideout three times around March 26.

"We don't have proof for one version or the other," Santos was quoted as saying.

Read the full story at MiamiHerald.com.

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