Paramilitary successor organization EGC suspended peace talks with Colombia’s government after President Gustavo Petro allegedly promised his US counterpart Donald Trump to arrest their commander.
In a post on social media platform X, the organization said that its delegation “will provisionally suspend talks with the government in order to conduct consultations and clarify the accuracy of the information.”
The message followed a claim made by Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez who told media that Petro promised Trump to make Jobanis de Jesus Avila, a.k.a. “Chiquito Malo,” a “joint high-value target” of both Colombian and US authorities.
If this is true, this would be “an attack on the good faith of and the commitments made at the negotiating table,” the EGC said in a more extensive press statement.
The EGC is the main successor of the now-defunct paramilitary organization AUC and is estimated to have almost 10,000 members and believed to be heavily involved in organized crime activity like drug trafficking and illegal mining.
Particularly in the Caribbean region and the northwestern Antioquia and Choco provinces, the organization is believed to have coopted local law enforcement and municipal administrations.
Negotiators of the group and the national government have been meeting in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to negotiate the dismantling of their organization.
These negotiations would include justice for victims of crimes committed by the EGC and their associates, and allow State authorities to assume control over territories that have effectively been run by paramilitaries since the 1990’s.
The suspension of talks threatens ongoing pilot programs that seeks to gradually allow the State to enter EGC territory and effectively provide State services.
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