Colombian army patrolling the streets in Manizales. Photo: EFE/Luis Eduardo Noriega/File photo.
The Colombian government has given the FARC dissidents an ultimatum to stop their continued acts of violence that is killing people every day.
The internal war of the dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in some regions of the country for the control of drug trafficking routes took the lives of 18 people in the department of Putumayo last Sunday, November 20.
On Tuesday, November 22, President Gustavo Petro visited the municipality of Barrancabermeja (Santander department). In his speech before the leaders of social movements of the region, he referred to the massacre that occurred last Sunday in which at least 18 people were killed. According to the Colombian president, this conflict no longer represents the fight of a guerrilla that seeks power, but a war that is sustained for the control of drug trafficking routes.
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“Look at what happened in Putumayo, do you think these are the conflicts of a political guerrilla that wants to seize national power and make a revolution?” said President Petro. “What happened in Putumayo is the conflict between two dissident groups that claim to be from the old FARC, massacring each other in such a gruesome way.”
The president expressed his surprise at how these former guerrilla groups have abandoned their political ideals and have become war merchants, and called upon them to take the path of peace because everything has a limit.
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According to Colombian analysts, the position taken by the Petro government is in line with its constitutional status, since it is offering the FARC dissidents as well as other armed groups an opportunity for peace, but if they do not want it, they will have to face the laws of the state.
FARC dissident groups, that have joined the peace talks with the government, had committed to peace, but with their latest acts of violence they seem to care more about their own interests than the establishment of peace in the embattled country.
(HispanTV) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
