Bogota. At least 15 guerrillas died and 12 more were wounded in an attack with heavy artillery carried out by military forces in the southern Colombian department of Cauca, army sources reported this afternoon.
According to General Federico Mejía, “the troops used 81 and 105 millimeter mortars with the aim of causing the greatest number of damage to the guerrillas that persist in generating violence in the Micay Canyon.”
The insurgent structures attacked belong to the “Carlos Patiño” column of the Western Bloc of the FARC dissidents known as the Central General Staff (EMC), an irregular armed group that did not adhere to the 2016 peace agreements.
With almost two thousand men in arms, the Western Bloc distanced itself a few weeks ago from the peace talks that the government is currently holding with the EMC and returned to the armed confrontation with the State after the executive decided to end a halt to the agreed fire at the end of 2023.
Through his “We must not play with peace, if it is war it is war,” said the head of state, using for the first time in his mandate a clearly bellicose tone.
Images of the attack released by the military forces show the moment when a small village in a mountainous area, where several people move, is hit with high-caliber projectiles.
The high commissioner for peace, Otty Patiño, had confirmed yesterday before the Senate that the EMC is divided and explained that the dialogues with the Western Bloc were suspended, clarifying that they are maintaining negotiations with the eastern and northeastern blocs of the country.
Patiño also referred to internal fractures in the National Liberation Army (ELN) and urged this guerrilla to decide as soon as possible whether it will continue on the path of peace, remaining at the talks table that began in 2022, or return to war.
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– 2024-04-27 00:16:59
