By Toby Muse Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia -- Most Colombians can't remember a time when the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia were not a major force to be reckoned with.

CARACAS _ The longtime leader of Colombia's FARC guerrillas is dead, a rebel leader confirmed Sunday, plunging Latin America's oldest and most powerful insurgency into an uncertain future at a time when a government offensive already had the Marxist group on the run.

The Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia The Colombian Defense Ministry said Saturday that it has information from various intelligence sources that the leader of Latin America's largest guerrilla army is dead.

President Hugo Chavez threatened on Monday to take over any private schools refusing to submit to the oversight of his socialist government, a move some Venezuelans fear will impose leftist ideology in the classroom.

By Pablo Bachelet and Steven Dudley, The Miami Herald Mar. 23--BOGOTA -- In an unprecedented legal move, the U.S.