By Bridget Johnson, your guide to Journalism

Time magazine summed up the death of Raul Reyes, the guy with a $5 million State Department bounty on his head, in one sentence:

“It was by far the most severe blow to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia since hardline President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002.”

For Uribe, the death of Reyes — real name Luis Edgar Devia Silva — comes at an especially important time, as rival (and FARC-friendly Venezuelan leader) Hugo Chavez has been trying to usurp Uribe’s standing in the fight against FARC by negotiating hostage releases (which undoubtedly have included some honey in the pot for FARC).

The BBC has more on the slaying:

“The operation to kill Reyes began in the early hours of Saturday morning when the Colombian army received confirmation from a spy that the guerrilla commander was in a hamlet called Santa Rosa just across the border in Ecuador.


Planes were sent to bombard the camp, followed by troops in helicopters who recovered the bodies of Reyes and another 16 rebels.


Also among the dead was Guillermo Enrique Torres, alias Julian Conrado, a Farc commander known for his music, who had released several compilations of revolutionary ballads that he wrote and sang.


Colombian President Alvaro Uribe spoke to his Ecuadorean counterpart Rafael Correa informing him of the action.”

What this proves, continues the BBC, is that Colombian intelligence has managed to penetrate the seven-member FARC secretariat for the first time — and from here on out, it’s all downhill for the leftist guerrilla group. Reyes also controlled international contacts with foreign governments and like-minded supporters, so his loss will also fracture their alliance-forging and support system.