“It is reported that the current bilateral cessation with this armed group in Meta, Caquetá, Guaviare and Putumayo departments is suspended and all offensive operations are reactivated,” the president wrote in a statement on Twitter.
Although the ceasefire will remain in place in other areas, these four regions in the south of the country represent guerrilla strongholds where their leaders are believed to live and produce tons of cocaine.
The Murui community minors had been forcibly recruited by rebels who broke away from the 2017 peace pact that disarmed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once America’s most powerful guerrilla group.
This weekend, authorities reported that they were murdered on the border between the departments of Caquetá and Amazonas by members of the Carolina Ramírez Front, which is part of the central general staff of the FARC, the most powerful dissident group.
It is “an abominable fact that calls into question the will to build a country in peace. There is no justification for this type of crime,” Petro said.
In 2021, the independent study center Indepaz estimated that the EMC had about 1,700 combatants.
“Makes no sense”
Led by Iván Mordisco, the Central General Staff is one of the illegal armed groups with whom Petro wants to negotiate and agree on disarmament as part of the so-called “total peace” policy.
In April, the rebel faction said it was ready to start talks in May, but the table never came to an agreement. According to Petro, the intention of the dialogue will be maintained and the guerrillas will soon officially announce the names of their negotiators.
On December 31, Petro declared a bilateral ceasefire with this group of dissidents and four other major armed structures operating in Colombia.
However, three ceasefires have already been broken: with the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, who refused to cease hostilities despite holding peace talks with the government since November, and with the Clan del Golfo, who attacked security forces and civilians amid protests illegal gold digger.
“If the ceasefire is not effective in certain areas to protect the lives and integrity of the population, there is no point in sticking with it,” Petro said.
Taking to Twitter, Meta Governor Juan Guillermo Zuluaga celebrated the decision: “Patience would be exhausted. The suspension of the ceasefire with the dissidents is due not only to the heinous murder of four children, but also to kidnapping, extortion and other criminal acts that have never stopped.”
“The dead will multiply”
In a statement to journalists, the Central General Staff severely criticized the government without mentioning the killing of indigenous children.
“The unilateral breach will trigger war and the number of dead, wounded and prisoners will increase,” the text says.
“In our view, this was the least serious government to engage in talks, to the point that the mechanisms to review the ceasefire have not even been put in place,” added the rebels, who urged the president to adopt a peace policy ” without improvisations”. without pressure” and without “non-compliance”.
“The first person responsible for the escalation of violence is Petro, who left Colombia in the hands of terrorists under the pretext of total peace,” said right-wing Senator María Fernanda Cabal.
Without the truce with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the ELN and the Clan del Golfo, Petro is left with truces with the Segunda Marquetalia, another faction of dissidents led by former FARC second-in-command Iván Márquez, and the Conqueror Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada, a paramilitary group from Santa Marta (North).