Colombia urges FARC talks after Cano killing [View All]

[Zorro]

Source: AFP

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday hailed the killing of FARC leader Alfonso Cano and urged the leftist rebels to surrender their arms and start talks with the government.

Cano, who had led the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia since 2008, was gunned down in a firefight late Friday during a day-long operation in which his female companion also died, government and local officials said.

Speaking in Popayan, 650 kilometers (400 miles) southwest of Bogota, Santos said the door to dialogue with the rebels had never been closed.

"But I insist that we need very clear signs, for terrorism to stop," Santos said, after greeting some of the 800-1,000 troops who participated in the operation that felled Cano, 63, after a lengthy manhunt.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/colombia-leftist-guerrilla-leader-alfonso-cano-killed-033603412.html