On Monday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced the suspension of the ceasefire with the Central General Staff (EMC), the main dissident group of the FARC guerrillas.

This came after the killing of four indigenous minors on the border between the departments of Caquetá and Amazonas by the rebels, located in four of Colombia’s most conflicted regions.

“It is reported that the bilateral shutdown currently in effect with this armed group in the departments of Meta, Caquetá, Guaviare and Putumayo has been suspended and all offensive operations have been reactivated,” Petro wrote in a statement on Twitter.

ELN says dialogue with the Colombian government is on hold

It is believed to be a guerrilla stronghold in all four regions, believed to be home to their leaders.

The murdered minors belonged to the Murui community and were looking for them to be forcibly recruited. It was “an awful fact that questions the will to build a country in peace. There is no justification for this kind of crime,” Petro said.

The Central General Staff (EMC) deviated from the peace pact signed in 2016 with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

In 2021, the independent study center Indepaz estimated that the EMC had some 1,700 combatants. It is directed by Iván Mordisco.

This is not the only truce that fell, it had happened before with the National Liberation Army (ELN) and with the Clan del Golfo cartel.

“If the ceasefire is not effective in certain areas to protect the life and integrity of the population, there is no point in continuing it,” Petro said.

increase in violence

Following the presidential announcement, the EMC noted that the bilateral ceasefire “will unleash war”.

“The unilateral rift will unleash war and increase the number of dead, wounded and prisoners, contrary to a policy of total peace,” the EMC said in a statement.

It was also denounced that this decision had the interference of the United States.

“The supposed government of change (of Petro), seen no more than in speeches and pledges, continues the continuism of rapidly adopting North American decisions, as evidenced by the presence of the United States Southern Command in the Security Council yesterday, May 21, 2023, from which it was concluded to officially and unilaterally break the ceasefire,” the statement said.

Petro met yesterday in Bogotá with the head of the United States Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, who is visiting the country, where this week she will meet officials of the national government and commanders of the armed forces and strategic military visiting units in different regions of Colombia.

Colombia’s indigenous peoples also warned that the decision will increase violence against their communities.

“With the declaration of (suspension of) the bilateral ceasefire, the disproportionate increase in casualties against indigenous communities will become apparent when they come into direct contact with this type of armed confrontation,” said the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon. (Opiac) in a statement.

Opiac called for “bilateral respect for the lives and personal and collective integrity of our 64 indigenous peoples and their organizational structures located in the Amazon,” one of the areas of activity of the FARC dissidents.

They also denounced that even with the bilateral ceasefire, which took effect on January 1 and lasted six months, they are subject to “all forms of victimization such as displacement, forced recruitment of minors, threats and selective killings” on a daily basis.