Raúl Reyes was a member of the FARC Secretariat, the highest ranked member after Manuel Marulanda (Tirofijo) their chairman. Reyes was a prominent figure and spokesperson for the FARC.
He was killed during a Colombia military operation in Granada, Putumayo, on March 1, 2008 against an encampment situated on the Ecuadorian side of the border along the Putumayo River. The attack started at 00:25.
The Colombian Government acknowledged the killing of Reyes and 16 more guerrillas in a guerrilla camp 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles) inside Ecuador's border.[5] The dead body was retrieved and transported to Colombian territory after the killing took place.
Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa announced that a diplomatic note will be sent in protest, saying that the action was a violation of Ecuador's airspace. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez called the attack "a cowardly murder" and reacted by moving troops near the border with Colombia and calling all personnel from the embassy, saying that doing something similar inside Venezuela would be a "cause for war".