Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the FARC, on Sunday denied links with neo-paramilitary group the Urabeños after an attack last week that left at least seven policemen dead and five more injured.
In a statement on their website, the guerrilla group who is currently involved in peace talks with government and army representatives in Cuba, denied claims that FARC had made an alliance with the biggest group to emerge from the now-defunct paramilitary organization AUC.
A message signed by the commanders of the FARC’s Ivan Rios bloc stated that “we have no partnerships with the structures of state terror known by the government and the media as clan Usaga.”
According to the FARC, the attack that took place earlier this month near to the town of Montelibano in northern Colombia was carried out by the guerrillas without outside help.
In the statement, the rebels said that “cries and lies, such as that the confrontation with guerrilla units was accompanied by criminals known as Urabeños…” were the result of the government’s failure to eliminate the country’s oldest guerrilla group.
The Ivan Rios bloc additionally denied that its commander “Isaias Trujillo” is a family member of “Otoniel,” the supreme leader of the Urabeños.
“The fact that their last names coincide does not mean they are family,” said the regional commanders.
Trujillo’s real name is Luis Carlos Usuga, while that of “Otoniel” is Dairo Antonio Usuga.
Following the attack, president Juan Manuel Santos claimed that the police had been ambushed by a combined group of FARC rebels from the 58th front and members of the Urabeños in a joint offensive.
In his speech, Santos promised a strong military response after the killings and an intensification of troops in Cordoba.
MORE: FARC asks for bilateral ceasefire as Santos calls to intensify military offensive.
Government officials have been in peace talks with FARC since November 2012 in Havana, Cuba.
In a response to the incident in Cordoba, FARC representatives called on the government to initiate a bilateral ceasefire. The government responded that a ceasefire would not be possible until the peace talks reached their final stages.
Sources
- Farc de atribuyeron ataque contra policias en Cordoba y niegan vinculos con clan Usuga (W Radio)
- Comunicado del Bloque Iván Ríos (FARC-EP)