Colombian Police Arrest
Senior FARC Member
Colombian police have
arrested Gustavo
Alvarez, a senior member
of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC), in the Pacific
port of Buenaventura,
police said Thursday.
Alvarez, known as
"Santiago," was one of
the commanders of the
Manuel Cepeda front of
FARC. According to
police, he and six
others were arrested
Thursday at an
entertainment center in
Buenaventura.
Alvarez is accused of
terrorism, rebellion,
and homicide. The Manuel
Cepeda front is blamed
for kidnapping 12
representatives ofa
regional assembly in
2002 and keeping them
hostage until 11 of them
died in 2007.
The Colombian government
considered that the
rebels killed the
hostages in "cold
blood."
The FARC is the largest
guerrilla group in Latin
America, and has been
seeking to topple the
Colombian government for
four decades. It is
holding 700 hostages
whom it wants to
exchange for FARC
members imprisoned by
the government.
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