Petro suspends truce with FARC dissidents in Colombia

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, yesterday suspended the truce with the Central General Staff, the main group of dissidents of the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), after the murder of four indigenous minors at the hands of the rebels, in what described as heinous fact that questions the will to build a country in peace.

It is reported that the bilateral cessation that was currently in place with this armed group in the departments of Meta, Caquetá, Guaviare and Putumayo is suspended and all offensive operations are reactivated.Petro wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.

Although the ceasefire will continue in other territories, these four regions in the south of the country constitute a stronghold of the guerrillas, where it is presumed that their leaders live and produce tons of cocaine.

The minors of the Murui community were recruited against their will by the rebels who deviated from the peace pact that disarmed the FARC in 2016.

This weekend, the authorities reported that the minors tried to flee and were murdered on the border between the departments of Caquetá and Amazonas by members of the Carolina Ramírez front, which belongs to the Central General Staff.

Was an atrocious fact that questions the will to build a country in peace. There is no justification for this kind of crime.Petro indicated.

Led by Iván Mordisco, the Central General Staff is part of the illegal armed groups with which Petro wants to negotiate and agree on disarmament within the so-called Total Peace policy.

In April, that rebel faction said it was ready to start the talks in May, but the installation of the table never materialized. According to the president, the intention of dialogue is maintained and the guerrillas will soon make official the names of their negotiators.

On December 31, Petro declared a bilateral ceasefire with this group of dissidents and four other of the main armed structures operating in Colombia.

However, with this there are already three truces that have fallen: with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), which refused to stop the hostilities despite having peace talks with the government since November, and with the cartel of the gulf clanwhich attacked the security forces and the civilian population amid protests by illegal gold miners.

If the ceasefire is not effective in certain territories to protect the life and integrity of the population, there is no point in persisting with itPetro declared.

The governor of Meta, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga, celebrated the decision on Twitter: patience was going to run out. The suspension of the ceasefire with the dissidents is not only for the vile murder of four children; also for kidnappings, extortion and other criminal actions that never stopped.

In a statement sent to journalists, the Central General Staff harshly criticized the government, without mentioning the murder of indigenous minors.The unilateral rupture will unleash the war and the dead, wounded and prisoners will multiplypoint to the text.

From our perspective, this has been the least serious government to start talks, to the point that the mechanisms have not even been installed. verification of the ceasefire, added the rebels, who asked the president to draw up a peace policy no improvisations, no pressure and without breaches.

On the other hand, the head of the United States Southern Command, Laura Richardson, met the day before yesterday in Bogotá with Petro to discuss regional security and defense association issues, the command tweeted.

More is lost in Colombia due to advertisements so that tourists do not come than what Congress delivers in contributions. If tourism decreases, the option of cocaine production opens up more. That is why we propose aid in weapons and intelligence for drug interdiction. And all civil aid for agrarian reformthe president tweeted about the meeting.

Yesterday, the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, and Foreign Minister Álvaro Ley-va, also met with General Richardson, who installed the conference on Women, Peace and Security, in Santa Marta, published the Defense on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Petro assured that he had not written the tweet in which the appearance of the four indigenous children lost in the jungles of Caquetá was confirmed last week, after the plane in which they were transported suffered an accident and declared that it was someone else in charge of his Twitter account, reported RCN News.