Rodrigo Londoño

Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri (born 22 January 1959), most known under the nom de guerre Timoleón Jiménez and the nickname Timochenko or Timochenco, is a Colombian politician, cardiologist and former commander-in-chief of the rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC), currently serving as the president of its political successor Commons (Spanish: Comunes) following the Colombian peace process.

Early life Echeverri was born in 1959 shortly after the Cuban Revolution to a poor peasant family in Calarcá, near the birthplace of FARC-EP founder Manuel Marulanda. His father, an illiterate peasant, is a communist sympathiser.

After finishing high school, Echeverri joined the youth wing of the Colombian Communist Party. Colombian intelligence services had long believed that he had studied medicine in Cuba, from Alfonso Cano after the leader was killed by the Colombian army. According to the Colombian Air Force his alias is referring to Soviet Marshal Semyon Timoshenko. Before assuming the leadership of the guerrilla group, Echeverri was one of the commanders of the Middle Magdalena Bloc of the FARC-EP and was thought to have some 800 men under his command.

Under Echeverri's leadership, from 2011 until the 2016 demobilization, the FARC continued its terrorist activities such as crimes against humanity, including kidnapping of more than 20,000 individuals, children recruitment, forced abortions, sexual violence including against its own militant children, forced displacement, torture, and murder.

Peace process

According to Foreign Policy, "[Echeverri] was instrumental in keeping the FARC from abandoning" the Colombian peace process, announcing in November 2012 the beginning of dialogue with the Colombian government.

Between 28 and 31 August 2017, a month after being hospitalized for a cerebral embolism, In a speech on 1 September 2017, party leader Timochenko proposed a transitional government for the 2018–2022 term. On 31 October 2017, FARC was named a legal political party in Colombia.

2018 Colombian presidential election On 1 November 2017, twenty-four hours after FARC was made a legal political party, Echeverri launched a presidential bid for the 2018 Colombian presidential election. In March 2018, he was hospitalized for acute coronary syndrome, underwent heart surgery and subsequently ended his presidential campaign. According to the U.S. Department of State, in 2000, along with Pastor Alape, he ordered the Magdalena Medio Bloc to retake coca territory, shoot down fumigation aircraft, increase coca production, kidnap United States citizens and kill any farmer who sold cocaine paste to non-FARC-EP approved buyers. When Echeverri took over as leader, the U.S. Department of State offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.