After Arenas' death in 1990, Cano succeeded him, joining the seven-member Secretariat that led the group, and remaining as the second in command for about two decades. He was chief negotiator during failed peace talks in 1991 and 1992. However he had little role in the long running 1999–2002 FARC–Government peace process with the government of Andres Pastrana. Pastrana later said that Cano never attended the peace talks. In 2000, Cano founded and became the leader of the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party.