The Colombian army said today it captured a senior rebel commander on the border with Ecuador, in the biggest victory for President Alvaro Uribe's anti-guerrilla campaign.
Simon Trinidad, a commander of the Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, was captured last night.
Army officials said Trinidad, a former rebel negotiator in failed talks with the government, would be flown to the Colombian capital, Bogota, later today.
Mr Uribe, a close US ally, has boosted military spending and launched an offensive against rebels fighting in the country's four-decade war.
The capture of Trinidad, a former banker whose real name is Mr Ricardo Palmera, is a huge boost for the military, which has been criticized for failing to capture or kill rebel leaders.
In recent years, Colombia's armed forces have received millions of dollars in military aid and intelligence from the United States.
The 17,000-strong FARC, which says it is fighting for socialist reforms, has been on a tactical retreat since Uribe took office in August 2002. The war claims the lives of thousands of people every year.