Pedro Antonio Marín, alias Manuel Marulanda o Tirofijo, right, and Jorge Enrique Briceño Suárez, alias “Mono Jojoy” in happier times.

Jorge “Mono Jojoy” Briceño, the military chief of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) a narco-trafficking Marxist group that has been fighting the government since the 1960s, was killed yesterday during a military raid.

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos told Associated press that Jojoy’s death was “the most crushing blow against the FARC in its entire history” and that for his fellow countrymen, “[...] it is as if they told New Yorkers that Osama bin Laden had fallen.”

The 57-year-old joined the FARC as an illiterate teenager and spent his entire life in the jungle. At one point his 11,000 thousand man force ruled half of Columbia, making him—by some measure—the world’s most powerful narcoterrorist..

Since his death yesterday, something interesting has come out about the way the US-backed Columbian military found the rebel leader, in El Mundo:

He suffered from diabetes which, combined with the rigors of the life in the jungle, had caused painful injuries on his feet. That was the reason why he had to order a new pair of special boots. And that was when Operation Sodoma started and his death begun.

The guerrilla command sent a message asking for these special boots, which was caught by Colombian intelligence. The Colombians were able to intercept the boots and rig one of them with GPS circuitry. When Mono got them, his fate was sealed.

The Colombians made sure that he got the boots and started to track the GPS signal. They knew exactly where he was, and that’s when they decided to launch the attack against the base.

57 aircraft, jetfighter and helicopters, attacked the complex with fifty bombs, preparing the way for the Colombian ground troops, who took over the camp with little opposition. In fact, only one of their explosives-sniffing dog died in the attack.

Soon after arriving to the camp, the Colombian commandos found Mono Jojoy’s body, along with other members of the FARC’s elite.

Via Gizmodo