BOGOTÁ.– Dissident guerrillas from the extinct FARC assumed responsibility for an attack that caused 21 civilians killed in Colombia last weekend, and which they defined as a “tactical error.”
The Central General Staff (EMC), the main group of former members of the FARC, said in a statement that the episode occurred in the middle of a “propaganda action on the Pan-American Highway.”
This action led to clashes with Army troops, who were a few meters from the place where The guerrillas activated an explosive charge that killed civilians passing through the area. The illegal organization indicated that in that context a “unfortunate incident” that affected civilians who, they recognized, They had no relationship with the armed conflict.
The EMC said it was a consequence of “errors in military maneuver in the midst of combat,” and stated that the facts “they are not premeditated.” However, he added that he assumed political responsibility and described the episode as a “tactical error, which has no justification.”
All the victims were civilians and half lived in the town of La Pedregosa, in the department of Cauca, an area where The community is proud to have declared it a territory of peace, carrying out community initiatives around crops such as coffee.
“I lost my mother and my sister. They were María Etelvina Valencia and Liliana María Valenzuela,” said a farmer from the area. Elvis Valenzuela Valencia, who described his mother as an entrepreneur.
“She kept here, she had her little coffee plot there, her sugar cane plot there. She herself picked her coffee, ground her cane and took out the panela to sell to the town. She made cakes. He kept there with his bakery. “I had chicks,” he said.
An Army source said that the guerrillas had installed a checkpoint on the road to ambush soldiers. The explosives activated by the rebels on a highway in the department of Cauca (southwest) They also caused 56 injuries.
The Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez, He stated for his part that it was a retaliation after military pressure, after the failed peace negotiations between the president Gustavo Petro and the leader of the EMC, alias Iván Mordisco, the most wanted guerrilla in the country.
The recent violent escalation in southwestern Colombia leaves, according to official reports, more than 34 episodes recorded between armed actions, harassment, attacks with explosives and disturbances of public order.
Faced with this panorama, The Public Force activated an operational deployment with reinforcement of Army troops, police units and intelligence capabilities. The objective, according to official sources, is to contain new attacks, secure road axes and regain control in areas where recent events have been concentrated.
In the midst of this state response, the police reported the capture of the alleged perpetrator of the attack, a noted leader of the structure Dagoberto Ramos, organization linked to armed actions in Cauca and other areas of the southwest. The authorities maintain that this man would be related not only to Saturday’s incident but also to the latest episodes of violence in the region.
The detainee was identified as an alias My Fish. Security agencies analyze information seized during the procedure to establish possible operational connections and new lines of research.
The office in Colombia of the UN high commissioner for human rights called on the government to “protect the civilian population and prevent new attacks”, and also to the armed groups “cease any attack” against the populations.
Petro assured that the attack was intended “sabotage the elections” in which the left is committed to retaining power after becoming president for the first time in 2022.
Ivan Cepeda, candidate of Petro’s party, He is a favorite in the polls for the elections, in which he confronts the right-wing lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and the opposition Paloma Valencia, also on the right.
The senator recently proposed the former president as her Minister of Defense Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), who during his government decimated the guerrillas with a strong attack by the United States.
AFP Agency and El Tiempo/GDA
