Word: tirofijo
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Leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) since it was formed in 1964, Pedro Antonio Marin was known to his comrades-in-arms by his nom de guerre, Manuel Marulanda--or by the nickname Tirofijo, "Sureshot," which he earned for his marksmanship. The son of a peasant farmer, and a rebel fighter since his teens, Marulanda lived much of his life in Colombia's mountains and jungles. There, despite having only a sixth-grade education, he directed FARC's antigovernment operations, kidnapping and, later, drug trafficking. He was believed...
Also known as Tirofijo, or Sureshot, Marulanda, who was believed to be between 78 and 80 years old, was the most powerful and resilient guerrilla leader the world had never heard of. In contrast to the flamboyant lives of rebel colleagues like former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Marulanda's was as thickly veiled as the Colombian jungle he occupied for half a century. But he built what was, at its apex a decade ago, one of the world's largest and fiercest insurrection forces. At the turn of the century, the Marxist-inspired FARC numbered some 20,000 fighters...
...remote southwestern Colombia, near or across the Ecuadoran border. Bogota has also begun extraditing FARC leaders to the U.S., and two of them were recently convicted and handed lengthy federal prison sentences. It's not even certain if the FARC's 77-year-old leader, Manuel Marulanda (known as Tirofijo, or Sureshot) is still alive; and morale among the rebels' rank and file is said to be crumbling...
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