Victor Julio Suarez alias “Mono Jojoy” or Jorge Briceno was a military chief of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), considered by the Colombian government as one of the most violent members of the guerrilla. With his death, a chapter of the violence he produced has finished.
Briceno was killed by the Colombian troops during a raid carried out on Thursday in a jungle in the south of Colombia.
Born on Feb. 5, 1953 in Cabrera in the central part of the country, Briceno joined the FARC in 1975 as an insurgent and after years he achieved higher levels due to his strong character and radical stand against the government.
According to Colombian authorities, Briceno was born in a poor peasant family, which took weapons against the conservative government in the 1950s.
He was part of the FARC secretariat and had 62 capture orders against him, five sentences and two extradition requests for crimes related to drug trafficking and terrorism activities.
In Colombia he was being investigated for drug trafficking, terrorism, rebellion, homicide with terrorist aims, kidnapping, injuries and extortion.
Briceno was accused of being the head of a conspiracy of a car bomb in the social club El Nogal in Bogota, with 35 people died and 200 more injured in 2003.