Guillermo León Sáenz
Born July 22, 1948 (1948-07-22) (age 61)
Nickname	"Alfonso Cano"
Place of birth	Bogota, Colombia
Allegiance	Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Communism
Rank	Secretariat member, Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

Guillermo León Sáenz, known by his nom de guerre Alfonso Cano, is the main leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP). Guillermo León Sáenz was a student leader in the 1970s at the Anthropology faculty of the Nacional University in Bogota.

Very little is known of his childhood, youth, or student days. Up until recently, he still traveled to Bogota, under disguise, to meet underground FARC operatives. Cano assumed the direction of the guerrilla group FARC EP in March 2008 after the death of Manuel Marulanda Vélez (Tiro Fijo). After the death of ideological leader Jacobo Arenas in August 1990 he soon became the ideological leader of the group. In 2000, Cano founded and became the leader of the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party. Ideologically, in his youth he was described as a hardliner, with the belief that his ideas and side will triumph absolutely.^[1]

[edit] Arrest warrants for FARC leaders

Colombia's Administrative Department of Security (DAS), issued international warrants through Interpol to 179 countries for arresting the 14 principal leaders of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest guerrilla group.

"With this step, the FARC leaders are listed as some of the terrorists most wanted in the world," the DAS said in a statement.

The Colombian government has also offered a hefty reward of up to 500,000 U.S. dollars for any information leading to the arrest of the FARC leaders, alive or dead.

The "black list" includes FARC top leader Manuel Marulanda and other rebel chieftains like Alfonso Cano, Rodrigo Londoño, Germán Briceño, Ovidio Ricardo, Efraín Guzmán and Joaquín Gómez.

In early 2002, the Pastrana administration also urged the arrest of former FARC negotiators involved in the failed peace talks with the government. Their names are Raúl Reyes, Simón Trinidad, Joaquín Gómez and Fabián Ramírez, whose legal recognition were annulled on February 20, shortly after President Pastrana broke off the peace talks which started in January 1999.

[edit] The hunt for Cano

The Colombian Army has been actively hunting Alfonso Cano since the beginning of 2008.

On March 6, 2008, the Miami Herald stated that Colombia's El Tiempo newspaper had reported "that troops were pursuing a top FARC leader known as Alfonso Cano, believed to have been wounded in a February 21 helicopter attack."^[2] El Nuevo Herald reports that this attack on Cano took place on the border of the two states of Tolima and Valle del Cauca, but that very rainy weather has hampered the effort to track Cano.^[3]

After the death of Manuel Marulanda, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe ordered the deployment of an extra 3,900 soldiers. A total of 6000 soldiers are now in the mountain range between Tolima, Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Huila, fighting the FARC's 21st front, which is believed to be under the direct command of Cano. ^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• US Department of State
• FARC-EP Official Website

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