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24-05-2023
BOGOTA: The administration of Colombian President Gustavo Petro has announced it is suspending a ceasefire agreement with a rebel group accused of killing four Indigenous people in a recent attack.
The government said on Monday that it will resume attacks on the Estado Mayor Central (EMC) group, a splinter of the now-disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once the country’s largest rebel group.
The temporary suspension applies to the provinces of Caqueta, Putumayo, Guaviare and Meta. The ceasefire with the EMC will remain in effect in other regions.
“If a bilateral ceasefire is not effective in protecting the life and integrity of the entire population in certain territories, then there is no point in persisting,” a government statement said.
The incident underscores the difficulty of securing peace in a country where various armed groups jostle for control of resources and territory, often bringing violence and displacement to regions where they are active.
Last week, Indigenous organizations accused the EMC of killing four people who tried to evade forced recruitment in the southern province of Putumayo. All four victims were Indigenous minors, according to a government statement on social media.
On Saturday, the Petro administration called the slayings an “assault on peace”. The president continued to criticize the violence on Monday through his Twitter account.
“Killing Indigenous children is an unacceptable crime against humanity,” Petro wrote. “To forcibly recruit minors is the same.”
In Colombia and throughout South America, Indigenous communities are often subjected to violence from criminal groups seeking to carry out illegal operations in areas where they live.
The attacks also highlight the challenges Petro faces as he tries to implement an agenda of “total peace” to combat Colombia’s nearly six-decade-long internal conflict.
Petro, the country’s first left-wing president and a former guerrilla fighter, has sought to distance himself from the heavy-handed, military-centred approach of his predecessors. (Int’l News Desk)
