A leader of the largest rebel group in Colombia was captured on Monday in the border area of the country with Venezuela, said authorities.

Enrique Alfonso Gonzalez Lopez heads the Caribbean bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), an armed group boasting some 20,000 members.

The rebel leader, alias El Negro, once studied law in Venezuela and is an economist and agronomic engineer, said police officials.

Colombia has been locked in a civil war pitting the government against both leftist rebels and rightist groups for 40 years, leaving 5,000 people killed and thousands of others homeless every year.

Source: Xinhua