Guerrilla Group Division Threatens Peace in Colombia

The risk of a split in the Central General Staff (EMC) guerrilla group is threatening the peace talks in Colombia. The evident differences between the different subgroups that make up this illegal armed organization make the peace talks that the organization is formally conducting with the Colombian government even more difficult.

After countless crises, Colombian president Gustavo Petro gave the order to break the bilateral ceasefire with the EMC in some southern departments of the country. According to Petro, repeated non-compliance and attacks on the civilian population led to this decision, although formally the dialogue table with the State is still underway.

Different movements within the guerrilla have shown that not all the groups that identify themselves as part of the organization share the thesis of their leader, alias Ivan Mordisco, and claim to be part of the dialogue table with the government directly.

On the government side, the head of the peace delegation, Camilo Gonzalez Posso, has confirmed that “Ivan Mordisco is out of the dialogue table”.

Project to build a new FARC in Colombia

Born as dissidents of the peace agreement that the extinct FARC signed with the government in 2016, today the EMC is a group made up of around 3,500 armed people. This fact makes it the main armed group in the country, surpassing in number of militants another important break-away group, the Second Marquetalia, which is commanded by a FARC historical figure, so-called Ivan Marquez.

Colombian military intelligence has always questioned the ideological motivations of Ivan Mordisco, leader of the EMC, but it recognizes his significant military capacity, as evidenced by the exponential growth of this armed group since the start of Mordisco’s leadership. He took command of the EMC after the death of so-called Gentil Duarte in May 2022.

In less than two years, the armed group has aspired to rebuild a new FARC. In fact, they claim to be the continuation of this historic guerrilla group, using the name of its former core leadership, Central General Staff, or even the FARC-EP itself, with all the iconography of the armed group that was created in the Colombian mountains in 1964.

However, this rapid growth has not been homogeneous. The group is far from being a compact organization with a clear leadership. Its desire to participate in the dialogue offered by Colombia’s first left-wing government, that of Gustavo Petro, led to internal disagreements that are now surfacing in full force.

Recognize internal divisions

In fact, the leadership of the armed organization itself recognizes these internal divisions. According to sources from within the group, of the EMC’s six war blocs, only two are represented at the table, as well as a front operating in the jungles in the south of the country. “It is a division in the sense that we are not all represented at the same table,” Alexander Diaz Mendoza, better known the alias of Calarca Cordoba, second in command of the EMC, told Reuters.

“It is a lie to say that there is no crisis. Internally we had some contradictions, in the sense that those in peace talks were representing the guerrillas at the dialogue table, while other comrades for many reasons (…) are waiting,” said Ivan Mordisco’s right-hand man in a recent interview for the Colombian newspaper El Espectador.

Similarly, the head of the Colombian government’s peace delegation, Camilo Gonzalez Posso, also acknowledged the complex situation that affects the peace talks. “It is a crisis, it is serious that the other blocs are outside the table,” he told Reuters.

In fact, in declarations made by a demobilized combatant to the magazine Cambio, it was affirmed that the eastern groups did not recognize the authority of Ivan Mordisco, who directly controls the 1st Front. In this regard, differences were evidenced between Ivan Mordisco and Andres Patiño, another important commander of this organization that controls guerrilla structures in Cauca.

Breakdown of the cease-fire and escalation of violence

When, in March, the government of President Petro decided to break the ceasefire in the departments of Cauca, Narino and Valle del Cauca due to the non-compliance of the guerrillas in this southern region of the country, the internal contradictions of the illegal armed group were already evident.

As in the other peace talks, in the current table established by the government with the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group, the lack of a vertical structure and the federal operation of the different fronts makes it difficult for all groups to comply with the agreements reached at the talks with the State.

With all this, military operations have been increased by a government needing to demonstrate firmness in the face of criminal groups. Thus, in the first 20 days since the suspension of the ceasefire, more than 80 firearms, 15,650 units of ammunition of different calibers and 285 suppliers, among other elements, have been seized. In addition, the army has captured 68 militants, both from the EMC and the Second Marquetalia, a group that also operates in the area.

Mordisco and the EMC’s commitment to peace

For his part, the leader of the EMC, so-called Ivan Mordisco, said in a video published on his social networks, and without referring to the internal crisis, that his organization’s will for peace is “unwavering”. With all the trappings of the former FARC, the guerrilla leader wanted to show that, contrary to the rumors that had circulated in recent days, he continues to command the EMC.

Mordisco said that, given the request from the communities of Cauca for the reestablishment of the bilateral ceasefire signed with the national government, suspended since March 20, the EMC are interested in its reestablishment. For this reason, he has appointed two of his men to handle the situation.

The head of this armed group said that he had received a letter signed by the indigenous communities and local political authorities of Cauca. Mordisco stressed the importance of including this region in “the structural and necessary change plans” to achieve peace in the national territory, with social justice. “We welcome the willingness of the signatories of this letter to build, through dialogue, an agreement with the indigenous, civil and community authorities in eastern Cauca that allows mutual recognition,” he said.

To this end, and in an evident demonstration of internal authority, Mordisco supported members of the Jacobo Arenas Western Bloc, an organization that is currently outside the peace table.

The future of peace in Colombia remains in the hands of this organization, which threatens to regain the hegemony and military potential of the former FARC, for which reason the government continues to reach out for dialogue, despite criticism from the political opposition.

With the departure of Mordisco, the success of the peace talks with this guerrilla group is up in the air and await further moves by the parties.