The FARC guerrilla flag next to the Colombian flag: not all members of the rebel organization laid down their arms after the 2016 peace treaty.
(dpa) At least six soldiers have been killed in an armed attack on the military in southwestern Colombia. Other soldiers were injured in the attack with guns and grenades, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said after security consultations in Bogotá on Tuesday.
Petro attributed the attack in the Cauca conflict region to renegade fighters from the former FARC guerrillas and linked it to the struggle to control drug trafficking in the Pacific Rim. “The security forces will not leave Cauca,” he said.
For more than 50 years, Colombia suffered from armed conflict between armed forces, left-wing guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries. The largest rebel organization, FARC, which financed itself with kidnappings and drug trafficking, among other things, signed a peace agreement with the government in 2016. The security situation in the South American country has improved since then. However, thousands of so-called FARC dissidents refused to follow. They still fight against the government and with gangs for control of the drug trade.
Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president and an ex-guerrilla, restarted the peace process in the former civil war country after taking office in August.
Colombia is one of the world’s largest producers of cocaine, which is made from the coca plant, ahead of Peru and Bolivia. Much of the cocaine is smuggled into the United States. There have also been record confiscations in Europe in recent years.