The suspension in three parts of the country of a ceasefire with the main dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) ended on Sunday, March 17, after a deadly attack by rebels against a group, the Colombian government announced. of indigenous people
“Given the disrespect of the ceasefire from the Central Staff of the FARC (EMC, Estado Mayor Central de las FARC) present in Nariño, Cauca and Valle del Cauca, we order its suspension and the resumption of offensive proceedings against them”, indicates a decree of the Ministry of Defense. Ceasefires are maintained in other regions, notably in the Amazon and on the border with Venezuela.
Earlier, President Gustavo Petro reported an attack in the town of Toribio in the Coca department a day earlier, accusing the EMC of violating the ceasefire.
Armed men tried to kidnap a teenager but his community resisted. “The reaction of these criminals was to fire indiscriminately on the community”, in a press release condemned the indigenous authority of the municipality. According to this source, the 52-year-old woman suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the face.
Mr. Petro confirmed that the attacked Indians had attended a public event organized by his government in Cali on Friday.
EMC, a group that rejects the 2016 peace accord
The government and the EMC, which rejected a historic peace deal signed in 2016 with Marxist guerrillas, suspended hostilities in early 2023, which has been broken several times by the rebels.
In mid-2023, Mr. Petro suspended the ceasefire for several months following the killing of four indigenous miners who had defected from the organization’s ranks.
Peace talks between the EMC, said to have around 3,500 troops, and the government have begun in October 2023.
Elected in 2022 as the first leftist president in the country’s history, Gustavo Petro is trying to implement an ambitious policy. “Perfect Peace” To disarm the armed groups active in the regions and definitively end the violence that has torn Colombia apart for more than half a century.
