Santos and Timochenko: Colombia foes turn peacemakers

A conservative politician from a rich family and a rural Marxist guerrilla were the lead players in the landmark Colombian ceasefire agreement signed Thursday.

Here are short profiles of President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC rebel leader "Timochenko", former foes now on the verge of a final peace pact in Latin America's longest civil war.

- Santos: fighter for peace -

Santos, 64, spearheaded a major offensive against the FARC as defense minister from 2006 to 2009.

After becoming president in 2010, he shifted tack and negotiated for peace.

"He made war as a means to achieve peace," said Santos's brother-in-law and adviser, Mauricio Rodriguez.

"He weakened the FARC to oblige them to sit at the negotiating table."

Santos comes from a wealthy, powerful family.

His great uncle was also head of state.

He was educated at the London School of Economics and has served in various ministerial posts.

- Timochenko: convict negotiator -

The bearded, bespectacled FARC leader's real name is Rodrigo Londono but he is better known by his noms-de-guerre Timoleon Jimenez and Timochenko.

He was born in a coffee-growing region and studied medicine in the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Timochenko, 57, is renowned as a strategist and former intelligence chief in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

He has been convicted in absentia for various attacks for which he has been sentenced to more than 150 years in jail overall.

He took over as leader of the FARC in 2011 after his predecessor Alfonso Cano was killed by the army.

The following year, he wrote to Santos proposing fresh peace negotiations after efforts by previous leaders had failed.

He agreed to one of Santos's key conditions, pledging to end kidnappings by the group.

"He is one of the most well-liked guys in the FARC," analyst Ariel Avila of Colombia's Peace and Reconciliation Foundation told AFP.

"He is the man who will go down in history for bringing the FARC into the peace process."

Source: AFP