He President Gustavo Petro ordered this Thursday not to resume the ceasefire with the Central General Staff (EMC), the main dissident of the FARCnor establish a dialogue after the escalation of violence in the southwest of the country and while the armed group does not “dismantle illicit economies“.
This was reported by the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquezafter participating in a Security Council held in Popayán, capital of the department of Cauca, who also offered a reward of 500 million pesos (about $130,000) for information that would allow the capture of leaders of the Jaime Martínez faction of the EMC. and the increase in troops in Cauca.
(More: Less than a month left for the Petro government to open its fiscal accounts).
The Colombian head of state also ordered affect the finances of this illegal group both in drug trafficking and illegal mining to weaken the organization, the Presidency indicated in a statement.
Violence in Cauca Juan Pablo Rueda / Portfolio
Additionally, with the coordination of the National Planning Department, the Department of Social Prosperity and ministries such as Agriculture, Health, Transportation and Education Work sessions will be undertaken with the mayors of Cauca to develop infrastructure projects that include health posts, schools and roads.
(We recommend: Tax changes with the pension revive debate due to possible procedural defects).
This to promote initiatives that allow replace more than 15,000 hectares planted with coca in the Micay canyon and the municipality of Argelia.
Petro moved, along with Velásquez and the military and police leadership, to the municipality of Morales, in Caucawhere he visited the Police station attacked this week by the EMC and highlighted the work of the 17 members of the institution who repelled the attack.
(Also read: ‘We are one step away from lifting a large number of grandparents out of poverty.’)
On Monday, an EMC faction harassed the Morales police station for about two hours and four people died in the attacks: two police officers and two prisoners who were in the institution’s station.
During the day, six people were also injured by the detonation of a motorcycle bomb at 6:15 local time near a hotel where uniformed personnel who are “strengthening the security of the municipality” of Jamundí, in the department of Valle del Cauca.
(More: Pension reform was approved in the third debate and now goes to the plenary session of the Chamber).
Gustavo Petro in Cauca Presidency
On Wednesday another soldier died in clashes between the Army and the EMC in the municipality of Patia.
The attacks of this dissident have intensified in that region of the country after last March The Government suspended the bilateral ceasefire in the departments of Nariño, Valle del Cauca and Cauca due to the violence of that armed group against indigenous people and against the public force.
(We recommend: Unitary Workers’ Central asks the Government to conjure up ‘ghosts’ of union strikes).
Gustavo Petro in Cauca Presidency
In response, The Army has increased its offensive operations in recent months in Caucawhich has become one of the stumbling blocks in the peace negotiations between the Government and the EMC.
The dialogue with the armed group has been bogged down since the EMC divided in two and the Government left the dissidents in the southwest of the country, who are the most violent groups and those that commit the most attacks, out of the negotiating table.
EFE
