Mono Jojoy obituary

Best known to his comrades and the world at large as "Mono Jojoy", Jorge Briceño, who has died aged 57 in a military raid on his stronghold, was the last surviving peasant leader of one of the world's oldest, active guerrilla organisations, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

With a reputation as a dour and implacable exponent of "revolutionary justice", Briceño will be mourned by few of his compatriots. The popularity of the Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, who is committed to putting the Farc out of business, shot up to 88% in one poll after the military offensive that cost the guerrilla leader and many other Farc members their lives.

After a life spent almost entirely in the jungles and mountains of Colombia, the details of his biography remain vague. What is known about him comes mainly from his enemies in the army, from guerrilla deserters and from survivors of the kidnappings that were one of his hallmarks. Some sources give his place of birth as the municipality of Cabrera, in the department of Cundinamarca; others say he was born in Boyacá department on the slopes of the eastern Andes.

A few months after Briceño was born, General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla took power in a coup which put an end to the first phase of la violencia, a period of bloody civil strife in Colombia that began as a battle between Conservatives and Liberals. Briceño's parents belonged to one of the Liberal guerrilla bands that had arisen as peasant self-defence forces. His father was a guerrilla combatant and his mother cooked for the irregulars. As a 12-year-old boy (if his own account is to be believed), he acted as a messenger for a leading member of what had (as of 1964) become the Farc, the armed wing of the Colombian communist party.

Adopted as a protege by the Farc's leader Manuel Marulanda (nicknamed Tirofijo, or Sureshot), Briceño spent part of the 1970s receiving political and military training in Moscow. In 1975 he was formally admitted as a guerrilla combatant, and he rose steadily through the ranks, becoming the commander of the Farc's eastern bloc, its military chief and No 2 in the hierarchy.

With his trademark black beret, camouflage fatigues and Zapata moustache, he was a familiar face during the abortive peace process in the 1990s, when the government of Andrés Pastrana temporarily ceded an area the size of Switzerland to the guerrillas in a bid to achieve their demobilisation.

He was never a member of the negotiating team, however, and was best known for the dictum "the rifle is the guarantee of the accords". He kept many civilian and military kidnap victims in appalling conditions – some for over a decade – in jungle camps. They were frequently chained, and his subordinates had orders to shoot them if any rescue attempt was made.

The nickname "Mono" in Colombia refers to a person with blond or reddish hair. The remainder of his nom de guerre is said to have been a reference to his ability to escape capture – a "mojojoy" is a jungle worm which is hard to catch.

During the 1990s, Briceño implemented a campaign to kidnap or murder any local officials in the Farc's zone of influence who refused to obey the guerrillas' orders. By the time of his death, there were 62 arrest warrants in his name – for crimes such as multiple homicide, kidnapping and terrorism – and a $5m (£3.1m) price on his head, offered by the US government. He was convicted of a 2003 bomb attack on the El Nogal nightclub in Bogotá, in which 36 people died, and is also accused of having ordered the murder of three US citizens in 1999.

He died with his boots on in the most literal sense. As a sufferer from diabetes, he needed special footwear to protect his feet from the rigours of life in the jungle. Army intelligence intercepted an order for his boots, and supplied a pair equipped with a transmitter that revealed his location.

Briceño's partner, Gilma Espinoza Castro (alias Shirley), died with him in the bombing of their camp. It is not known whether they had children. His body was claimed by a woman who said she was his niece. He is survived by his brother, Germán – alias Grannobles – who is also a leading member of the Farc.

Mono Jojoy (Jorge Briceño/Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas), guerrilla leader, born 5 February 1953; died 23 September 2010

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