For decades, Colombia has walked under the shadow of a war [clears throat] that seems to have no end. Deep in the jungle, among mountains that devour the light, hid men who had built an empire of secrecy. They were leaders who seemed untouchable, figures shrouded in myth, protected by the thicket, by distance, by fear.
But it was all a breaking point. Every story, even the darkest, finds a moment when the silence is broken. This is the story of three blows that shook the foundations of an organization that believed itself to be eternal. Three defeats that changed the course of a conflict that marked generations. These were the three blows by the Colombian army that got the FARC to sit down to negotiate, although the latter went badly.
This is Militorias and this is how we begin. First hit, Raúl Reyes. Operation Phoenix 2008. Raúl Reyes was more than a commander. He was the diplomatic voice of the insurgency, the bridge between the jungle and the outside world. Their refuge, beyond the border, seemed like an untouchable sanctuary, a territory where war should not enter.
But on the night of March 1, 2008, the sky opened with a roar that crossed boundaries and certainties. Intelligence, patient and silent, had woven an invisible map that led directly to their camp. Raúl Reyes is not just any guerrilla fighter . He is the international face of the FARC, the one in charge of clandestine diplomacy, who gives interviews, speaks with international media and establishes political contacts in different countries, including Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Rafael Correa in Ecuador.
Their role is vital; they are the voice that attempts to legitimize the guerrilla movement abroad. Meanwhile, in Colombia, the organization maintains a ruthless campaign of violence . Intelligence agencies know this. Neutralizing Reyes is not just a military blow, it is a political and symbolic blow that could shatter the FARC’s international facade.
There are 25 arrest warrants against Raúl Reyes for terrorism, aggravated homicide, drug trafficking, kidnapping for terrorist purposes, rebellion, personal injuries and illegal possession of weapons. These are some of their processes. murder of a judge, a doctor, three secretaries and two judicial police officers .
In November 1991, 12 bombings in Bogotá that caused the death of several people and the attack on a military patrol on the outskirts of the capital in which 13 police officers lost their lives in 1993. The attack on the Patascoy military base in December 1997, in which 10 soldiers died, eight were wounded and 18 were kidnapped, the death of Congressman Diego Turbay Cote, the congressman’s mother and four other people in December 2000.
Kidnapping and subsequent murder of the former Minister of Culture, Consuelo Araujo Noguera. The kidnapping of former senator Luis Eladio Pérez and three other people in 2001. Kidnapping and murder of nine hikers in February 2001. In 2002 he was accused of the murder of Monsignor Isaías Duarte Cancino. He is also accused of drug trafficking for the production and sale of drugs from Colombia to the jungles of Brazil.
Attacks in Bogotá during the inauguration of President Álvaro Uribe and the Bajayá massacre, in which 119 people lost their lives, including 45 minors. In 2003 he was accused of the kidnapping and murder of Governor Guillermo Gaviria, former minister Gilberto Echeverry and eight military personnel.
Attack against the El Nogal club in Bogotá, which claimed the lives of 36 people and injured a hundred. The kidnapping of former Meta governor Alan Edmundo Jara Urzola, in 2006, also accused of the kidnapping in 2002 and the murder in 2007 of 11 of the 12 Valle deputies. It is clear that Raúl Reyes represents a direct threat to the Colombian nation, so President Uribe prioritizes his neutralization as an offensive against the terrorist acts promoted by the insurgent guerrilla.
For months, satellites, wiretaps, and electronic intercepts track every move. After the heavy blows perpetrated by the public force, the guerrilla is forced to retreat to the jungles and its commanders flee to where they believe they are untouchable. Reports indicate that Reyes has crossed into Ecuador with a group of fighters and has set up a camp in the jungle area of Angostura.
His position, seemingly safe because he is outside Colombian territory and under the protection of some Ecuadorian government officials, becomes his greatest vulnerability. In the early hours of March 1, the operation begins . From air bases in Colombia, Super Tucano aircraft equipped with smart bombs silently take off. The plan is not improvised.
Maneuvers have been designed to allow the camp to be bombed with precision without being detected until the last moment. After a few minutes, the sky in Ecuador lights up with explosions. The bombs fall directly on the tents where the guerrillas are resting. The surprise is total. In a matter of seconds, the camp is reduced to rubble and fire.
Reyes and at least 25 other guerrillas die instantly. But the most important thing is not just the fall of the commander. Among the ruins, Colombian forces find computers, hard drives, USB drives and documents. These devices contain a huge amount of information about the FARC’s international operations, contacts with foreign governments, links to drug trafficking, relationships with other armed groups, as well as data on its financial and political structure.
Hundreds of documents, emails, and internal records reveal a complex network of FARC international contacts, communications with high-ranking officials in Venezuela and Ecuador, evidence of links with drug cartels, strategies for political expansion in Latin America, and data on kidnappings, clandestine negotiations, and financing routes.
The magnitude of this information is shaking the continent. The national government scored its biggest victory in the last few hours in its fight against the FARC. In a combined operation by the Army, Air Force and National Police, Luis Edgar Devia, alias Raúl Reyes, the number two inside that guerrilla organization, was killed.
According to initial reports, an informant revealed to the military forces the whereabouts of Reyes and his men in a location near the border with Ecuador in Putumayo. The air and ground attack was launched early this morning . Reyes fled to Ecuador, but there came a second bombing that caused the death of this important, this key man of the guerrilla.
Governments and international organizations begin to analyze the archives, although later the sectors involved would use tricks to question their authenticity, but the political impact has already been made. I repeat, they discovered no evidence of modification, alteration, addition or deletion in the user files of any of the three laptops on any of the three USB memory units and on the two external hard drives seized during a counter-narcotics counter-terrorism operation at a FARC camp on March 1, 2008.
Among the victims of the bombing, four Mexicans were found alive, all from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. These alleged students had participated in a Bolivarian congress held in Ecuador during the month of February. As for the fifth student, Lucía Moret Álvarez, she is found among the survivors.
The young woman claims that she and her companions were at the clandestine camp as part of an investigation for her thesis in revolutionary arts, denying any link with the guerrilla. But how did five students end up linked to high-ranking FARC commanders? How did five newly arrived foreigners know the location of the clandestine guerrilla camp and the Ecuadorian authorities did not? The operation, however, soon generates a diplomatic storm.
Colombian troops have crossed the Ecuadorian border without authorization, violating its sovereignty. President Rafael Correa reacts with fury, denounces a military aggression and breaks off diplomatic relations with Colombia. According to them, we haven’t cooperated enough in their fight against terrorism.
In light of these new grievances and outrages, at 2 p.m. today I ordered the severing of relations with the Colombian government, as it is not possible to maintain relations with a government that so blatantly disregards the authority, truth, and sovereignty of the United States. The protest comes in addition to Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela and a constant collaborator with the FARC, who is mobilizing troops to the border and declaring that the operation is an intolerable provocation.
But not everything has been joy today. Tonight, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez asserted that the operation violated Ecuadorian sovereignty and threatened to unleash a war if something similar were to happen on the border with Venezuela. And that’s not all. For life. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez threatened Colombia with war.
If troops enter his country and something similar to what he claims happened in the operation that ended with the death of Raúl Reyes occurs. President Uribe, think it over carefully. Don’t even think about doing that around here, President Uribe, because it would be extremely serious and would be a cause of war.
He asserted that the Colombian government had chosen the path of war, that it was not sovereign, and that President Uribe was going to be left alone. How far will President Uribe be willing to go in his madness? In his warmongering madness. Furthermore, he criticized the official announcement of Reyes’ death.
It’s almost obscene to see smiling faces, diabolically pleased to announce deaths. Chávez’s unusual statement appears to be the prelude to a new attack against the Colombian government. Within hours, the military success also turns into an international political crisis that threatens to unleash a regional conflict. The atmosphere in the diplomatic arena is explosive.
President Rafael Correa denounces before the Organization of American States (OAS) that Colombia has violated his sovereignty. He speaks of a treacherous attack and calls on international organizations to condemn the incursion. Tension escalates rapidly to the north. Hugo Chávez intervenes furiously, orders the deployment of 10 battalions to the border and the withdrawal of all Venezuelan officials who are in Bogotá.
He also stated that he would send the new Sukoi Sub-30 MK2 aircraft to the border in the event of a Colombian military incursion into Venezuelan territory or a new attack on Ecuadorian soil. His televised speeches become a fiery platform against Álvaro Uribe and his government. Meanwhile, in Colombia, the government is celebrating.
President Uribe presents the result to the country and the world: the death of Raúl Reyes. For many Colombians, the operation represents an act of justice for decades of violence and terror sown by the FARC, but the debate does not stop. Has Colombia acted within the law or has it exceeded the limits of international law? The international community is divided.
Some governments condemn the incursion, others remain silent, but it all ends when in the United States the administration of George W. Bush expresses its support for Bogotá. He warns the Venezuelan government that its actions will be met with a response from the world’s greatest military power.
In Colombia, the population receives the news with a mixture of surprise, relief, and joy. For years, Reyes has been one of the visible faces of kidnapping, threats, attacks and failed negotiations. His figure was directly linked to the failures of the peace process in Kauan, to the intransigent rhetoric of the guerrilla and to its international media presence.
For many, the incursion was necessary because Reyes used Ecuadorian territory as a refuge, from where he ordered kidnappings and attacks in Colombia. His fall represents a moral triumph in the midst of a long and painful war. However, the diplomatic crisis does not disappear easily. The OAS calls an urgent meeting of foreign ministers.
There, Colombia defends the operation arguing the right to self-defense, while Ecuador and Venezuela demand condemnations. To provide help to friends in Ecuador. My proposal was the sum of $000. Jorge the monkey Joy Jorge Briseño, a sinister bandit, proposes $100,000 and offers $50,000 and authorized me to get them from Joaquín and deliver them to you.
Iván Márquez and Iván Ríos say where they send you the money. Comrade Alfonso agrees. Comrade Timo made the same statement . Letter from Manuel Marulanda. From Raúl Reyes to Manuel Marulanda. In a note sent to the secretariat, I explain the aid given to Rafael Correa’s campaign in accordance with his instructions.
The continent is divided between those who support and justify Uribe and those who strongly criticize the violation of Ecuadorian sovereignty. As the weeks go by, the tension decreases, but relations between the three countries remain damaged. Rafael Correa and Hugo Chávez use the episode as a political banner in their internal speeches, while Colombia maintains its narrative of strategic success.
Second blow, Mono Jojoy, Operation Sodom. 2010. If Reyes was the voice, Mono Jojoy was the fist. The military strategist, the architect of combat, the symbol of war in its rawest form. His name was heard throughout the camps as a warning. His figure, hardened by years in the jungle, seemed to be made of the same earth he walked on.
Reaching him was almost a fantasy. Responsible for attacks on bases, mass kidnappings and massacres of soldiers, his face and defiant gaze symbolize armed resistance against the Colombian State. But in the high command there is no longer any doubt, their time is up. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have approved a large-scale operation, the result of months of human intelligence, electronic espionage and aerial surveillance.
The goal is to neutralize the monkey jojoy. Just as in the Bible, Sodom represents divine punishment for corruption and decadence. This operation will be a punishment for the military heart of the FARC. For the police it is a matter of honor, because in 2006 Jojoy had murdered one of the agents infiltrated in the FARC bloc and they had to mourn him in silence, but this time it would be different.
Through the Intelligence Directorate of the National Police of Colombia, an agent has infiltrated who, after the death of his partner, without hesitation accepted the mission to be in the structure of the eastern bloc. The informant provides precise coordinates of a camp in the area of the staircase, in the heart of the Macarena mountain range.
The data point is where the monkey Jojoy sleeps, trains and directs his communications. For weeks, satellites and reconnaissance aircraft, Araba and SR560, have been flying over the area capturing thermal images. It is confirmed that there is a large complex hidden in the jungle protected by security rings and trenches.
The size of the camp is alarming, with more than 20 structures, including an underground dwelling built with cement, wood and steel sheets. Everything points to it being the bunker of the FARC military chief . General Óscar González, commander of the army, approves the final plan and President Juan Manuel Santos, newly in power, personally gives the green light to the operation on September 17.
Since this is a surgical operation, the priority is not to dismantle the camp, but to target the main mind of the insurgents who have been committing crimes for years. Thanks to surveillance and police intelligence, it is known that the monkey Jojoy has the habit of getting up between 1 and 4 in the morning to consult documents.
That is why it is decided that the operation should begin at 2 a.m. In the early hours of September 23, the sky roars. Cafir and Super Tucano aircraft of the Colombian Air Force take off in formation loaded with GBU12 Pway 2 precision bombs, although no laser was used for guidance. Minutes later, the Arpía gunship helicopters begin to fly over the target.
From the air, the pilots activate the thermal vision system. There is human movement, campfires, and armed guards. The nearest security cordon ring to the monkey Jojoy is made up of about 100 guards. There is also a second ring at 100m with around 200 insurgents and several structures at 500m with 500 to 600 more guerrillas.
On the ground, the men of the joint special operations command await the signal and finally the commander-in-chief gives the final order. The noise is deafening. 14 bombs hit the main camp with precision. In seconds, the explosions light up the jungle like a fiery dawn. The shockwaves sweep across the ground, the trees collapse, and the trenches are reduced to dust.
The attack lasts less than 10 minutes, but it is devastating and precise. Monkey Jojoy and his staff are taken completely by surprise. The guerrillas are running in all directions. Some try to repel the attack with machine guns, others throw themselves to the ground looking for cover. The chaos is total. The commandos take advantage of the moment and descend from the helicopters, searching for a perimeter around the target.
The ground assault begins . The special units advance through the dense jungle amidst smoke and smoldering remains of the bombing. Every step is dangerous. There is still scattered enemy fire. The soldiers communicate by radio in code while snipers eliminate pockets of resistance. In the midst of the fighting, the army men find tunnels, camouflaged shelters, and weapons hidden underground.
Everything indicates that Jujo the monkey had been fortifying this place for years, creating his own war bastion, but the impact of the bombing has been devastating. Most of the sub-commanders are dead or wounded. The bodies lie among the remains of the camp. The air smells of gunpowder and burnt earth.
One of the commandos reports by radio. Target partially neutralized. Multiple enemy casualties confirmed. The operation is progressing according to plan. However, the main target, the monkey Jujoy, has not yet been identified. The soldiers begin a methodical search checking the underground shelters one by one.
With each step, the silence grows denser. Finally, a squad locates an entrance reinforced with steel sheets. Inside there is a small cave, a kind of personal bunker. Access is partially blocked by debris from the bombing, so proceed with caution. The commandos enter and find the body of a robust man with a thick beard and a field radio next to his chest.
The soldiers quickly recognize him. The FARC military leader is dead. The warlike heart of the guerrilla has been destroyed. Dawn begins to filter through the trees as the smoke from the bombing still rises over the Macarena mountain range . The sound of the explosions has already stopped, but the jungle still smells of gunpowder, mud, and victory.
The National Army commandos confirm what seemed impossible. Mono Jojoy, top military leader of the FARC, has died in combat. The most feared enemy, the architect of the protracted war, the mastermind behind the bloodiest attacks, has fallen. General Oscar Gonzalez receives the communication on his encrypted radio.
The voice on the other end is firm, without hesitation. Mission accomplished. Target neutralized. More than 10 years have passed since Mono Jojoy became the symbol of rural terror, the strategist who kept the Colombian state in check , the man who promised an eternal war. Now he lies lifeless in a damp cave, surrounded by the remains of the very camp he once believed to be impregnable.
The commandos carefully remove the body from the bunker. Among their belongings there is something revealing. State-of-the-art weapons, field uniforms, documents with attack plans, and a laptop computer. But what is most surprising is not the technology, but the symbol. On his right leg, the monojoy wore orthopedic boots specially designed for him, as he suffered from chronic diabetes.
It was the definitive proof, since these carried a locator. Within hours, a Black Hawk helicopter takes off with the body on board, heading to Bogotá. From the air, the pilots watch as the sun begins to illuminate the mountains of the meta. The most ambitious mission of modern warfare in Colombia has been accomplished.
When the news reaches the media, the whole country is shaken. Images of the bombed-out camp that reduced the FARC sanctuary to ashes flash across all screens. On the streets, the reaction is immediate. Thousands of Colombians celebrate with families who had lost loved ones in attacks or kidnappings by the Eastern Bloc.
They feel that justice has finally been served. International media are calling the operation a masterpiece of military intelligence. Meanwhile, in the remaining FARC camps, the impact is devastating. The secretariat headed by Alfonso Cano is left shaken and in crisis. Without the monkey jojoy, the military structure loses cohesion.
The confused fighters begin to desert en masse. For the FARC, the death of Mono Jojoy not only represents the loss of a commander, it is the fall of the military pillar that sustained their war strategy. Third blow, Alfonso Cano. Operation Odysseus. 2011. After the death of its commanders, the organization sought refuge in its most strategic mind.
Alfonso Cano, the ideologue, the academic turned guerrilla fighter, the man who tried to rewrite the revolution from the underground. Cano is not an ordinary fighter. He is an intellectual, ideologue, and strategist. He comes from a middle-class family in Bogota. He studied anthropology at the National University and, unlike other insurgent leaders, he took up arms not out of hunger, but out of ideology.
Since his rise to power, after Marulanda’s death in 2008, the FARC changed its face, from jungle and rifle to propaganda, urban support networks and pseudo-political discourses. But behind the revolutionary rhetoric, the kidnapping business continues. Drug trafficking and terror in the fields of Colombia. The Colombian government knows this.
Capturing or eliminating Kano is not only a military objective , but a symbolic blow. The FARC leadership is beginning to fragment. Monoy was killed in 2010 during Operation Sodom, and the morale of the rural fronts weakened. Now the army and police are preparing for the next phase of a manhunt that has been brewing for months under the utmost secrecy.
Operation Odysseus. The Cauca mountains, a natural labyrinth of ravines, thick jungle and permanent clouds. He hides there with his security detail, moving from one camp to another. Surrounded by loyal men, almost all war veterans. He changes location constantly, they sleep in hammocks under makeshift plastic sheeting and gives his orders by radiotelephone in coded language.
But something changes. The intelligence services of the Army and the National Police, together with the intelligence directorate of the Air Force (FAC), have intercepted several communications, small clues, fragments of conversations, vague coordinates. With each interpretation, the net narrows. In Bogotá, the commanders of Operation Odysseus begin to trace a pattern of repeated movements, pauses in the same region. Known routes.
Human and satellite intelligence tracking indicates that Cano could be in an area between Suárez and Morales, in the department of Cauca. A mountainous area with makeshift camps that are difficult to access, but this time you must not escape. The joint special operations command, Secoes, takes control of the mission.
It is an elite force made up of army commandos, the FAC and the anti-narcotics police. They are the same ones who successfully carried out operations Jacke and Sodom and they know perfectly well what is at stake. The operation is codenamed Odysseus, in honor of the Greek hero who returns victorious after a long journey.
And indeed, the army faces its own odyssey, a hunt against Colombia’s most wanted man . The operations center is located in Popayán. From there, commanders coordinate ground movements, reconnaissance overflights, and deployments of infiltrated patrols. The commandos are divided into small units equipped with assault rifles, night vision goggles, and state-of-the-art GPS systems.
Each group receives precise instructions and there will be no room for error. On November 2, 2011, a local informant, a farmer who claims to have seen armed men in the mountains, hands over suspicious coordinates. Immediately, the army’s satellites and spy planes begin to observe the area through thermal images and detect human movement and heat in a small ravine.
Canon is there. During the early morning of November 4, Air Force Black Hawk helicopters take off from a secret base in Cauca. On board were army commandos and intelligence agents. The propellers cut through the air in the midst of dense darkness. The objective is to descend upon the camp where the top FARC leader is hiding.
The aircraft fly in close formation, without lights, guided by military GPS. The pilots know that any mistake could reveal the operation. The rebels still control areas with anti-aircraft machine guns and long-range rifles. Below, the terrain is a natural trap with thick jungle , deep ravines and slopes that make any landing difficult.
At 5:45 a.m., the first group of commandos descends by ropes. The sound of helicopters echoes through the trees. The element of surprise is total. But Kano is not alone. Its security ring reacts immediately. A barrage of crossfire begins. The guerrillas respond with bursts of AK47 rifle fire and fragmentation grenades.
The confrontation is brutal and close, at less than 100m distance. The commandos advance taking advantage of the fog. and they take up strategic positions. From the air, gunships fire support shots neutralizing points of resistance. The fight lasts several minutes. Cano, surprised, tries to escape with three of his bodyguards.
It forms a nearby ravine. He carries a small briefcase and a pistol, while the rest of his troop falls one by one. The commandos are after him. They know they cannot allow themselves to be lost amidst the vegetation . The pressure is increasing. The Colombian commandos move with surgical precision.
Every step is measured, every movement calculated. Operation Odysseus is at its critical point. The goal is not to capture another guerrilla base or to secure an area. The goal is to eliminate the top leader of the FARC, the man who for years believed himself to be untouchable. In the heart of the mountain, Alfonso Cano flees with three of his escorts.
The special forces are pursuing him intensely. On his back he carries a backpack with documents, a handgun and a communication radio. He knows the net is closing in, that helicopters are circling the area , and that this time there is no way out. The army intercepts the guerrilla leader’s last communications.
KH orders his men to resist, but the tone of his voice no longer has the authority it once did. He is tired, cornered, aware that his fate is sealed. Elite troops advance from several flanks. One group moves north of the Mikai River, while another secures escape routes to the south. Within hours, the entire perimeter is sealed.
The commander of the operation receives confirmation by radio. We have human warmth in the target. Eye contact is maintained. Thermal sensors detect three moving figures. One of them is wearing a distinctive vest. The profile matches the dean. From the air, a harpy gunship helicopter , opens suppressing fire as commandos descend on ropes, securing the area inch by inch.
The confrontation lasts minutes, but it feels like an eternity. The bursts illuminate the jungle. Cano tries to escape by crossing a stream, but a well-aimed shot hits him in the chest. The top leader of the FARC falls to his knees. His weapon slips between the wet stones and his body collapses beside the watercourse.
It is 12:30 noon on November 4, 2011 and Operation Odysseus has achieved its objective. Silence slowly returns to the mountain. The commandos secure the area and begin checking the bodies. One of the soldiers, with his face covered in sweat and dirt, pronounces the words that seal an era. It’s Cano, we’ve got him.
In their backpacks, the commandos find strategic documents. Hard drives, communication radios and propaganda material. Minutes later, Black Hawk helicopters land in the area to evacuate the wreckage and secure the perimeter. From Bogotá, President Juan Manuel Santos receives official confirmation.
The news is first transmitted to the high command and then to the entire country. From the CTI and the Prosecutor’s Office we managed to develop Operation Odysseus in the department of Cauca, more precisely the village of Chirriadero, where the neutralization of alias Alfonso Calco was achieved. Colombia wakes up to an announcement that marks history. Alfonso Cano fell.
The FARC leader has been neutralized. The political and military impact is immediate. Within hours, the image of the dead guerrilla leader spreads through news programs, newspapers, and social networks around the world. The government presents it as a total strategic victory, a precise operation, without civilian casualties, executed with intelligence and coordination.
For FARK, Cano’s downfall represents a devastating blow. The supposed commander of the people, the ideologue of the armed struggle, the man who had tried to reconfigure the guerrilla, ends up beaten in a ravine, cornered by the same forces he underestimated. In the camps in the south and east, the morale of the guerrillas is collapsing.
Army intercepts reveal desperate messages. Some fronts are demobilizing, others are left without direction. The secretariat descends into chaos for the first time. After decades of kidnappings, massacres and drug trafficking, Cano’s downfall not only eliminates a leader, but also dismantles a discourse.
The three blows did not end the war, but they transformed it forever. Reyes, Jojoy, and Cano were figures who shaped the conflict, and their downfall marked the beginning of a new direction. Today their names resonate like distant echoes, reminders of a time when the jungle was a scene of terror and that even today they intend to continue with their violence.
A time in when every step, every decision could change the destiny of millions. After learning about these three events that changed the history of the conflict, what do you think was the moment that marked a turning point for Colombia? And why? Leave us your comments and if you want to learn more about the history of Colombia, here is a playlist where we tell you its military history .
This is Militorias, history and military forces.
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
