Alfonso Cano, FARC new leader

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is now led by its chief ideologist Alfonso Cano, rebel commander Timoleon Jimenez said in a video, after announcing the death of FARC leader Manuel Marulanda.

"We have agreed unanimously that at the head of the secretariat and as new commander of the major central state will be comrade Alfonso Cano," he said.

The legendary leader of Latin America's most powerful insurgency, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, died of a heart attack on March 26th, Jimenez said on Sunday.

Senior guerrilla commander, Timoleon Jimenez, made the announcement in a video broadcast by the Venezuela-based Telesur network.

"Our commander and chief, Manuel Marulanda Velez, died on the 26th of March as a consequence of a cardiac arrest, in the arms of his companion and surrounded by his personal guards and by all the groups who made up his security team, after a short illness," he said.

Colombia's Defence Ministry, first reported the death on Saturday and gave the same date as Jimenez.

Military officials said Marulanda's death had coincided with a series of bombings in the southern jungles where he was believed to be.

Defence Minister, Jose Manuel Santos, told reporters on Sunday that the FARC only acknowledged Marulanda's death because the government had release the information first.

He also extended the authorities' hand to the rebels and asked them to "enter through the door of peace".

"We tell them to take advantage of this opportunity, take advantage of the generosity of the government and president Uribe and enter through the door of peace. To the members of the FARC we tell them, demobilise, you don't have any future," he added.

Marulanda's death is a major blow to the FARC, the latest in a series of setbacks for the communist insurgents, whose defeat has been President Alvaro Uribe's main goal.

Important ideological leader

Colombia's army has for months said that it has Cano, Marulanda's replacement, cornered in the southwest Colombian jungle, insisting his death or capture is imminent. FARC statements have denied Cano is in that area.

Guillermo Leon Saenz also known as Alfonso Cano, is an important ideological leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC.

Cano is known as a more of a political leader than a military strategist and entered the FARC as a student activist.