A group of 34 soldiers have been sequestered since Friday in southern Colombia, after an operation against environmental crimes, the authorities reported on Saturday April 20. Governor Rafaela Cortés assured that behind this kidnapping that occurred in the department of Meta are dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who rejected the 2016 peace agreement and who are “instrumentalizing the civilian population against the forces of order”.
Authorities earlier announced that two investigators from Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office had been kidnapped in the southwest of the country by the Central Staff (EMC), the largest faction of FARC dissidents who rejected the peace deal. . The two officials and the woman who accompanied them have been detained since Friday in a rural area of ??Santander de Quilichao, in the department of Cauca (southwest). The general prosecutor’s office “vehemently condemned this unacceptable detention” and called for “respect for the life and integrity” of the three people.
According to the EMC, which assured of their “good health”, the investigators “were surprised” at “a checkpoint” in possession of “two weapons and their ammunition, as well as electronic devices to collect information” .
Government attempts to renegotiate peace with dissidents
“We hope that international organizations can create the security conditions necessary for their release,” said the dissident organization, which refused to give up its arms unlike most of the FARC, after the signing of the historic peace agreement from 2016.
In 2022, Colombian military intelligence estimated the EMC’s strength at around 3,500 guerrillas. The organization controls revenues from drug trafficking and illegal mining.
A truce was concluded at the end of 2023 between the EMC and the government of President Gustavo Petro, in power since August 2022, who is trying to renegotiate peace with these dissidents. After a series of attacks against civilians and security forces, the assassination of an indigenous leader by rebels ultimately led the government to decree on March 17 the end of the ceasefire in three departments in the south -west of the country.
