The Colombian army, after the abduction of 29 soldiers and policemen by the rebels, will not withdraw units from the Micay region, the military offensive will be intensified, President Gustavo Petro said on the social network X.
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“The Colombian army will never leave Plateado and Micay. This is an irreversible decision, since Mikay does not belong to Mexican cartels, but to Colombia. The military and social offensive must be doubled,” the politician wrote.
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The abduction of 29 soldiers and policemen took place in the El Platedo area of the western department of Cauca, where they were surrounded and detained, allegedly by representatives of the FARC/FARC rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
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“If the police continue to be detained, the regime of internal unrest will be extended to Mikay, which will allow financing the final military and social offensive. We expect that the free peasantry will decide to join the program of large-scale disbursement of funds for the destruction of coca plantations,” Petro added.
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Colombia has been in a state of armed conflict involving various paramilitary organizations for more than half a century. During this time, more than 260 thousand people died, millions were forced to leave their homes. The ranks of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which were formed in 1966 from self-defense units of communist peasants, consisted of up to 20,000 fighters. The authorities and the rebels negotiated peace for a long time, which ended with the signing of a peace agreement in 2016.
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After the “demobilization” of 13,000 people from the FARC, the official Comunes political party was created on its basis, but more than 5,000 people returned to guerrilla activities and drug trafficking.
