Given the slow arrival of the Colombian state to territories previously occupied by the FARC, other illegal forces are taking control over these sectors.
The guerrillas who excluded themselves from the peace agreement with the Colombian state carry out aggressive deforestation in the local Amazon to introduce cattle and plant the raw material of cocaine, the Prosecutor’s Office denounced when announcing charges against the fugitive rebels.
‘Gentil Duarte’, one of the most wanted men in Colombia, and his subordinates ‘Iván Mordisco’ and ‘John 40’ are behind the cutting down of thousands of hectares in the south of the country, the investigating body said in a statement released this Thursday.
“The evidence collected shows that, at the instruction of these people, aggressive deforestation has advanced since 2016 to complete an illegal path,” said the attorney general, Francisco Barbosa.
Miguel Botache Santillan -alias’ Gentil Duarte’-, for whom they offer a reward of just over a million dollars for their location, and the other rebel leaders face charges of “invasion of an area of special ecological importance”, “damage to natural resources ”,“ financing of plantations ”(of coca) and“ conspiracy to commit crimes ”, he added.
With the peace agreement signed five years ago, the bulk of the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, Marxists) abandoned vast territories that have been taken over by other illegal forces, due to the slow or no arrival of the State, according to the agreement. peasant organizations and local and international NGOs.
The so-called Suroriental Block, commanded by Botache Santillana, operates in the departments of Meta (south-central) and Guaviare (south), one of the main nodes of deforestation and where the highway is being built.
Colombian military forces are following in Duarte’s footsteps in an intense hunt in which several of his camps have been bombed.
The shadow landlord
According to figures from the state Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), after the pact that disarmed the FARC forest destruction skyrocketed in Colombia, going from 123,841 hectares in 2015 to 219,552 in 2017 (an increase of 76%).
Barbosa added that there has also been “indiscriminate logging to promote extensive cattle ranching, coca cultivation and drug processing,” which has “endangered soils, water sources and wildlife.”
According to testimonies collected by the AFP in Guaviare, large landowners are also paying peasants who, before the agreement, planted coca to cut down trees and seize large tracts of land.
“Some very important economic activities are being generated for some investors who have seen in the affectation of natural resources how to improve their capital,” explained Albeiro Pachón, environmental manager of that department.
“The deforestation issue is being classified as a mafia,” he added. Colombian justice punishes up to 15 years in prison for those caught cutting down or financing this activity.
With the new “environmental crimes law” the president, the right-wing Iván Duque, aims to stop the destruction of the forest that has already cost more than 925,000 hectares of forest since 2016, an area similar to the size of Cyprus.
Without a unified command, the dissidents feed a new wave of violence that hits several territories. The local study center Indepaz estimates its strength at 5,200 combatants, the majority (85%) new recruits.
Santillana’s, one of the first defectors from the peace agreement, is the largest dissident group in the country (2,700 members).
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