TIME Exclusive: Colombian President Santos Reacts to Capture, Killing of No. 2 FARC Leader “Mono Jojoy”

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Colombia confirmed on Thursday that it conducted a successful raid earlier in the week on the country’s rebel FARC group. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos sat down with TIME Magazine in New York to discuss.

“This is probably the strongest and most important strike that we have made against the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]. This guy [Jorge Briceño, also known as “Mono Jojoy”] was sort of a myth. He was a military commander. He was the one who kept the discipline within the organization. Very cruel, very tough… What is more important than even striking down a guy with that prestige or control was that we struck the heart of the FARC.”

– Santos on the the capture and killing of the No. 2 leader of Latin America’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The Colombian military says it has also recovered 12 computers and 60 memory drives belonging to the FARC. An estimated 20 rebels were killed in the raid that took place in the region of La Macarena in central Colombia.