Colombia Suspends Ceasefire with Central General Staff Guerrilla

Colombia has halted its ceasefire with the Central General Staff (EMC) guerrilla group, a faction that broke away from the now-dissolved FARC. This comes after months of peace negotiations. The move by President Gustavo Petro follows an incident where a unit of this outlawed group assaulted indigenous people in Cauca, a southern region of the country.

The announcement by the president marks a breach of the ceasefire agreements between the Colombian government and the EMC. As a result, the government will restart military actions against the armed faction led by the individual known as Ivan Mordisco.

The suspension of the ceasefire implies the resumption of offensive military operations and police operations as of March 20. “From the beginning, the EMC of Cauca on its different fronts did not give any sign of wanting a serious peace process,” acknowledged President Petro.

Guerrilla attack on indigenous group

Around 6:30 pm last Saturday, March 16, a serious act of violence was reported in a rural area of Toribio, in the north of the department of Cauca, where members of the Indigenous Guard were attacked with long firearms, according to military information by members of the guerrilla of the Central General Staff.

Three members of the Nasa community were wounded, one of them seriously, in an attack denounced by the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), through its official account on X.

“The community is under attack by armed guerrillas while defending their territory. Tragically, an indigenous guard has been killed. It is time to act and raise our voices for justice and security!” wrote the CRIC, denouncing the events.

President Petro’s patience is over

Talks with this outlawed group have faced challenges and reciprocal claims of failing to uphold agreements. Under the Total Peace program, Colombia’s government aims to halt violence and disarm three groups: the ELN and two factions that split from the peace process with the former FARC: the EMC and the Second Marquetalia.

These dialogues have provoked all kinds of complaints among the political opposition and have not garnered enthusiasm among a large part of the country’s population either. Nevertheless, President Petro’s commitment to achieve a broader peace with other armed groups has led him to remain firm, so far, in his determination.

Last weekend’s attack seems to have exhausted the Colombian leader’s patience. “From the beginning, the Cauca EMC on its different fronts did not give any sign of wanting a serious peace process. It believed, very mistakenly, that (it could use) the negotiation to strengthen itself militarily and that its strengthening was based on subjecting the population to its structures and financing itself with the illicit economy and with the great illicit capital,” wrote the president yesterday on his social network account.

Petro, disappointed, quoted Marx in a long text in which he criticizes the real lack of will to achieve peace among this dissident group. “They forgot Marx’s famous thesis that said that human beings think according to their material conditions of existence. If I live off the income from drug trafficking, I will end up thinking like a drug trafficker. The illicit economy can devour the revolutionary and transform him into a simple drug dealer,” he added.

Aware that this choice, though deemed essential, will reignite conflict in the already troubled Cauca region, President Gustavo Petro addressed the inevitable casualties this shift will bring. “The forthcoming deaths are unwarranted; the well-being of the people should have been prioritized over any hierarchy,” the president expressed with regret.