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BOGOTA-The killing of two Colombian rebel commanders in less than a week, one betrayed and dismembered by his own bodyguard, has ended four decades of government failure to hit the guerrillas' top leadership.The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, had never before lost a member of its seven-man secretariat,so the two deaths in quick succession were a historic blow to the communist insurgency.Rebel fighters, harried by a six-year-old government offensive, are deserting in record numbers, providing intelligence to an army backed by billions of dollars in U.S. aid, including American military advisors who help plan strikes.The guerrillas continue kidnapping and blowing up energy installations as part of the war but military officials believe the FARC is now slowly imploding.Even opposition figures admit that conservative President Alvaro Uribe has begun to show long-awaited results.Raul Reyes, the FARC's No. 2 leader, died in a March 1 raid carried out inside Ecuador that set off a regional diplomatic crisis.The army tracked Reyes down by intercepting a satellite phone call he made from along the Ecuador border.Ivan Rios, another member of the FARC's secretariat, was shot dead last week by his security chief, who later told reporters that morale in the group is at an all-time low."It's acceptable to lose a leader like Reyes in an enemy attack, but the way Rios died shows the internal degradation of the FARC," said political analyst Alvaro Jimenez, a former member of the demobilized M-19 leftist rebel group.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
