Gustavo Rueda Díaz known by his nom de guerre Martín Caballero was a Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n guerrilla leader, member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict, currently involved in drug dealing and crimes against the civilians..FARC-EP is a peasant army which...

 (FARC) and commander of the 37th Front http://www.aol.es/noticias/story/Mart%C3%ADn-Caballero-el-jefe-de-las-FARC-m%C3%A1s-importante-muerto-en-2007/2581354/index.html Caribbean Bloc of the FARC-EP

Caribbean Bloc of the FARC-EP

The Caribbean Bloc of the FARC-EP is a medium-sized FARC-EP bloc which operates in the Northern areas of Colombia and along the Caribbean coast, with routes and access to the coast being strategically important, and is thus sometimes referred to as the Northern Bloc...

 that operates in Caribbean Region. He was killed in action

Killed in action

Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...

 by the Colombian Army

Colombian Army

The National Army of Colombia is the land military force of the government of Colombia and the largest service of the Colombian Armed Forces...

 after a military operation on October 25, 2007. Colombian authorities wanted him on charges of rebellion, extortion, terrorism, first degree murder, armed assault, assault and battery and kidnapping among others. http://www.elespectador.com/elespectador/Secciones/Detalles.aspx?idNoticia=16960&idSeccion=22 Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos described his death as the "most important" blow against FARC in 2007. http://www.aol.es/noticias/story/Mart%C3%ADn-Caballero-el-jefe-de-las-FARC-m%C3%A1s-importante-muerto-en-2007/2581354/index.html

Early years

In 1979 Gustavo Rueda Díaz studied in the northern Colombian port city of Barrancabermeja

Barrancabermeja

Barrancabermeja is a city and municipality in Santander Department, in northeastern Colombia. It is located on the banks of the Magdalena River in the Middle Magdalena region, 110 km west of Bucaramanga. Founded in 1536, Barrancabermeja is home of the biggest petroleum refinery in Colombia,...

, during this year he became a militant in the Communist Youth (Juventud Comunista JUCO). Two years later in 1981 Rueda joined the 4th Front of the FARC-EP in the Middle Magdalena Region and assumed the alias of "Martín Caballero". He was later sent to the area of the Serranía del Perijá

Serrania del Perija

The Serranía del Perijá, Cordillera de Perijá or Sierra de Perijá is a mountain range, an extension of the eastern Andean branch , in northern South America, between Colombia and Venezuela, ending further north in the Guajira Desert, a total distance of about 310 km...

 mountain range near the border with Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. In 1991 he was appointed commander of the 37th Front of the FARC-EP which he led until his death in 2007.http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/2007-10-26/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3784343.html

Kidnapping of Fernando Araújo

Caballero was suspected of being the mastermind behind the kidnapping of the former Colombian minister of Foreign Affairs Fernando Araújo

Fernando Araújo Perdomo

Fernando Araújo Perdomo is a Colombian politician. He was the Minister of Development during the administration of Andrés Pastrana. He resigned from this post after the Chambacú land deal scandal. He was later kidnapped by the FARC-EP guerrillas and held for six years until he eventually escaped...

 who was kidnapped in the city of Cartagena

Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...

 in December 2000 and escaped in 2006.http://www.eluniversal.com.co/noticias/20071025/ctg_nal_murio_martin_caballero_comandante_de_las.html

Attempted attack on President Bill Clinton

In 2000, President Bill Clinton visited Cartagena de las Indias in part to stand by Colombia in solidarity for its long war. Caballero was accused of planning to attack him in 2000 by placing explosives along the route of Clinton's presidential limousine. http://www.aol.es/noticias/story/Mart%C3%ADn-Caballero-el-jefe-de-las-FARC-m%C3%A1s-importante-muerto-en-2007/2581354/index.html

Kidnapping of three US American citizens

Martín Caballero was accused by Colombian authorities of being the man responsible behind the majority of kidnappings in the northern Caribbean region of Colombia, including the three United States citizens Keith Stansell, Thomas Howes and Marc Gonsalves. Stansell, Thomas and Gonsalves were kidnapped when their Cessna Grand Caravan crashed while working for California Microwave Systems, which the U.S. Defense Department had contracted with to gather information about illicit coca and opium crops in Colombia http://www.clarin.com/diario/2003/02/23/i-03615.htm. They were rescued in July 2008. For this case the Attorney General of Colombia

Attorney General of Colombia

The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia is the Colombian institution part of the Colombian judicial branch of Government with administrative autonomy designed to prosecute offenders, investigate crimes, review judicial processes and accuse penal law infractions against judges and courts of...

 formally accused Caballero on October 5, 2006 and ten other guerrilla leaders of being responsible for their kidnapping.http://www.wradio.com.co/nota.asp?id=498197

According to Colombian military intelligence Caballero ordered the incursion of the 37th Front of the FARC-EP in the corregimiento

Corregimiento

Corregimiento is a term used in Colombia to define a subdivision of Colombian departments. According to the Colombian Constitution of 1991 and Decree 2274 of October 4, 1991, Corregimiento is an internal part of a Department or province, which includes a population core...

 of Matuya in the municipality of Maria La Baja

Maria La Baja

María La Baja is a town and municipality located in the Bolívar Department, northern Colombia.-History:María La Baja was founded by Alonso de Heredia on December 8, 1535.-Geography and climate:...

, Bolívar Department

Bolívar Department

Bolívar is a department of Colombia. It was named after one of the original nine states of the United States of Colombia. It is located to the north of the country, extending from the coast at Cartagena near the mouth of the Magdalena River, then south along the river to a border with Antioquia.Its...

, in which the insurgents assaulted a farm, threatened the workers, demanded a ransom and stole some 140 cattle. Under his orders insurgents also attacked numerous farms with the same strategy also extorting agricultural producers throughout the region.http://www.fac.mil.co/index.php?idcategoria=20448&facmil_2007=480adff01f2ba5151a8ffd70ab64a91e