FARC leader being treated for stroke: Colombia hospital

BOGOTA: The leader of Colombia’ s FARC rebel group, Rodrigo Londono, was hospitalised Sunday after having a stroke, and is in ‘satisfactory’ condition, doctors at the clinic said.

Londono, 58, who goes by the nom de guerre ‘Timochenko,’ is awake and alert after being admitted to a university hospital in the city of Villavicencio in central Colombia, according to doctors at the facility.

The clinic was located near the spot where the FARC – short for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – declared it had finished the process of disarming just days before, effectively dismantling Latin America’s oldest armed guerrilla force after more than a half-century of civil war.

Timochenko assured supporters via Twitter that ‘all is well,’ as he thanked those concerned about his health and the doctors treating him.

Doctors said the FARC leader admitted himself to the facility after noticing “a change in his manner of speaking” and a loss of muscle strength” – especially in his left arm.

Clinic chief Lydis Herrera told reporters that Timochenko was diagnosed with a brief strokelike attack known as a transient ischemic attack, adding that his symptoms have improved by 90 percent.

People with this type of condition are usually hospitalised for 24 to 48 hours so long as there are no complications, according to Herrera. — AFP