BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- The death of FARC commander Raúl Reyes is being seen here as a significant turning point in Colombia's internal armed conflict with Latin America's oldest insurgency, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. While the killing of Reyes on Ecuadorian soil has sparked a diplomatic crisis between Colombia and its neighbors, it is the impact of his death on the country's conflict that will be noted in the annals of Colombian history. Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was elected to power with a mandate to crush the rebels. For the last six years, the government's counterinsurgency campaign, bankrolled largely by billions of dollars in U.S. aid, has been on the hunt for the seven-member FARC secretariat, the group's governing body. And with the fall of Reyes last weekend, FARC's No. 2 man, Uribe finally got his big scalp.
In Colombia, Reyes’ Death Seen as Turning Point in War Against FARC
