Colombian forces kill FARC leader's chief bodyguard

Colombian military forces said Tuesday that they had killed the chief bodyguard of the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) during a gun battle in the south of the country over the weekend.

Arquímedes Muñoz Villamil, alias "Jerónimo," was killed on Sunday during a military offensive near Aipe in the Huila department. Muñoz Villamil is considered a close aide to FARC leader Alfonso Cano and has been part of the leftist guerrilla insurgency for more than 35 years, military officials said.

He is also thought to have controlled the FARC's finances.

This is not the first time that Muñoz Villamil has been reported dead. In August 2009, the Bogota daily El Espectador reported that he was among several guerrillas killed in a bombing of a camp near El Cañón de las Hermosas, Tolima department.

Carmen Maritza González, a top investigator in Colombia's attorney general's office, explained that this time, Muñoz Villamil's body had been properly identified.

In another development, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that army troops had killed Oliver Solarte, one of the country's biggest drug traffickers. Solarte, a FARC commander, was considered by the Colombian government to be the group's main contact with the Mexican drug cartels, Santos said in a statement.

"He managed all of the drug and arms trafficking for the southern block of the FARC," the president said.

In another offensive, Colombian forces announced the arrest of René Silva, alias "Rambo," who was one of the FARC's explosives experts.