Colombia’s FARC guerrilla group founder is reported dead

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‘The Colombian government on Saturday said it believes the founder of the nation’s largest rebel group died in March of natural causes,’ reports the Times’ Chris Kraul.

‘The Ministry of Defense said in a statement that information from ‘various military intelligence sources’ had led it to conclude that Pedro Antonio Marin, 77, founder and leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, died March 26 of a heart attack.’

Kraul continues that, although ‘the government provided no photos or forensic evidence’ of the death of the man also known by aliases Manuel Marulanda and ‘Sureshot,’ a member of President Alvaro Uribe’s Cabinet ‘said in an interview Saturday that intelligence sources heard in January that Marin was mortally ill. ‘Highly reliable’ word came last week that Marin, one of the world’s longest-lived rebels, had died in an eastern jungle state.’

-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City