The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was strongly hit by the death of his military chief Victor Julio Suarez, alias “Mono Jojoy” or Jorge Briceno, local experts said Thursday.
“FARC is breaking apart from inside,” Colombian Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said after Briceno was killed by the Colombian troops during a raid carried out on Thursday in a jungle in the south of Colombia.
His death could help the Colombian government approach the FARC to start a peace process, Fernando Giraldo, a political expert said.
“It is possible that his death speeds up a negotiation between the government and the FARC, because Briceno was a part of the radical sector and now (the FARC) ia less radical,” Giraldo said.
However, it is too early to say that the FARC has been defeated, according to Giraldo. “To say that the FARC is defeated, is overreacted.”
The raid showed to the other countries Colombia’s determination to combat these guerrillas, Alejo Vargas, a political analyst with the National University of Colombia, said.