Colombia’s defense minister told Congress that FARC dissident group EMC used a ceasefire with the security forces to strengthen their control over the Cauca province.
Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez was called to Congress to explain a spate of attacks against security forces and the family of Vice-President Francia Marquez.
Cauca has seen a surge in guerrilla attacks on police since March, when President Gustavo Petro suspended a ceasefire with the EMC that had been place in October to support peace talks.
According to Velasquez, the attacks are part of a guerrilla strategy to force the government to resume a ceasefire in Cauca and the neighboring Nariño and Valle del Cauca provinces.
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These attacks have been relatively successful because the EMC used the temporary suspension of attacks to strengthen their positions in Cauca, the minister told the House of Representatives.
The purpose of these terrorist actions is to distract attention, to reduce the pressure that the security forces have been exerting on this organization. They seek — and they have said so — the reestablishment of the ceasefire, which was — and I have to admit — a space that was taken advantage of by that organization in its purpose to control and expand in the territory.
Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez
The minister stressed that, contrary to public perception, the military has been successful in pushing back the guerrillas in their stronghold in the west of Cauca.
There probably weren’t a lot of violent actions before, perhaps because there were not many repressive actions. When the president ordered the public forces to recover the territory, it was a territory over which there was still no effective control. Very powerful operations have been developed, and the Army with the Air Force managed to take positions held by the dissidents in El Plateado, confronted them, dislodged them and progress has been made.
Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez
Following the demobilization and disarmament of the FARC in 2017, dissident groups tried to recover territory that was lost as a consequence of the guerrilla organization’s peace deal with former President Juan Manuel Santos.
Many of these dissident groups joined the EMC, which rejected the peace process since before it began.
The guerrilla offensiv has been particularly disastrous for indigenous communities in Cauca that sought to regain control over indigenous territories lost to the FARC during Colombia’s armed conflict.