Colombian Rebel Commander Is Arrested

Acting on U.S. intelligence, Colombian and Ecuadorean police arrested a top commander of Colombia’s largest guerrilla army Saturday, the highest-ranking member of the leftist group ever captured.

Ricardo Palmera, a leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia better known as Simon Trinidad, was arrested after seeking medical assistance at a clinic in Quito, the Ecuadorean capital, Colombian authorities said.

“Long live the FARC,” Palmera shouted to local media as he was led under heavy guard to a helicopter for deportation to Colombia, where he faces more than 20 charges ranging from murder to kidnapping to rebellion.

Palmera’s detention represents an enormous psychological victory for the Colombian government, which in nearly 40 years of fighting has never captured or killed a member of the ruling council of the FARC, as the rebel group is known for its Spanish initials.

Palmera’s capture also fulfills one of the primary goals of hard-line Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who won office in 2002 on promises of stepping up the battle against leftist rebels.

“With perseverance and patience, the work will continue until we completely dismantle terrorism,” Uribe told local media in an interview from his ranch, where he is on vacation. “My generation must devote all its energy so that children and those yet to come can live happily in Colombia.”

The arrest also represents a victory for the United States, which is becoming increasingly involved in Colombia’s internal conflict. The U.S. has recently begun training an elite Colombian army unit to target guerrilla commanders and is sharing intelligence on guerrilla movements with the Colombian military.

Ricardo Galan, Uribe’s spokesman, said the U.S. supplied the information leading to Palmera’s arrest, although he declined to give specifics. U.S. Embassy officials could not be reached for comment.

“It was intelligence, information,” Galan said.

Palmera, believed to be in his early 50s, was an unusual figure among FARC’s leaders, most of whom grew up poor and uneducated in Colombia’s countryside.

An urbane college graduate, Palmera grew up in a wealthy family in the north-central city of Valledupar, famous for its vast cattle herds and vallenato, Colombia’s accordion-filled national music.

He worked as an economics professor before becoming a manager for one of Colombia’s largest banks. He joined the FARC when he was in his 30s, saying he was tired of the injustice he saw in a few wealthy ranchers owning most of the land in his region. He rose quickly through the ranks to become a crucial figure in the group’s financial operations.

There, Colombian police say, he helped oversee an annual income of about $300 million -- most of it from kidnapping and drug proceeds -- to supply the FARC, the oldest rebel army in Latin America.

He emerged from obscurity in 1998 when the FARC began peace negotiations with the Colombian government.

Palmera, balding and bespectacled, was one of seven negotiators for the rebel group, which is estimated to have 18,000 fighters.

Palmera was in charge of discussing economic matters: He was among the rebels who met with former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso when the American visited the peace talks in 1999 to discuss the benefits of capitalism. The peace talks collapsed in February 2002.

His capture comes amid a string of battlefield successes by the Colombian military in recent days, including the capture or killing of several mid-level commanders operating around Bogota, the capital.