Colombia’s eyes are set this Tuesday on the southwest of the country, which is mired in unrest after a Monday of extreme violence in Cauca and Valle del Cauca. A series of attacks by former FARC dissidents left at least four dead, dozens injured and 50 million pesos ($13,000) stolen. In response, President Gustavo Petro activated a permanent Security Council in Cauca, and declared that the offensive against the Central General Staff (EMC), which the Government blames for this violence, was “total.” However, the attacks did not stop.
During the night from Monday to Tuesday, two soldiers were injured in harassment of a patrol in the Cauca municipality of Cajibío, about 40 minutes from Morales. And during the early hours of the morning, the brothers Jéfferson Dizú Guegue and Josué Dizú Guegue were murdered in the town of Mondongo, in the municipality of Caldono, about 65 kilometers from Morales. This latest crime is under investigation, and authorities have not commented on the motive.
At least six municipalities and villages within a two-hour radius between Jamundí and Morales were victims this Monday. According to the authorities, the Jaime Martínez front, affiliated with the EMC, committed the attacks. After a security council in Cauca, the Ministry of Defense announced rewards of up to 500 million pesos (about $130,000) for information leading to the capture of six leaders of the illegal group, known by their aliases: Marlon, Esteban Medina, Pincher, Yogi Bear, Pepe and Banana.
In addition, the ministry published another list of seven more guerrillas that it holds responsible for the attack on the Morales Police Station, in which two patrol officers and two civilians deprived of liberty died. The dissidents also stole 50 million pesos from the Agrarian Bank, according to the National Police. For this attack, the Government is offering up to 100 million pesos ($26,000) for information that leads to the arrest of aliases Lian, El Paisa, Juan Carlos, Coni, El Indio, Matin and Huevito.
Like many, the Family Welfare Institute (ICBF), the entity responsible for the welfare of minors in the country, has condemned the attacks and asked for respect from the armed groups behind them. “The ICBF insists on the urgent need to leave children and adolescents out of the conflict. The indiscriminate terrorist attacks against the civilian population represent a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law,” reads a statement published this Monday. In addition, it reported that it has suspended services in the Jamundeño townships of Potrerito and Robles, where there was harassment this Monday.
While the authorities try to find the perpetrators, the municipality of Morales woke up this Tuesday with anxiety and caution. The mayor, Oscar Guachetá, has declared a curfew and dry law, has canceled classes in schools, and has ordered the closure of nightclubs, bars and taverns. Even the health service providing institutions (IPS) are not working this Tuesday.
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The governor of Cauca, Octavio Guzmán, explained this Monday on Caracol Radio that Morales, where some 40,000 people live, was supported before the attack by a police force of 14 uniformed officers. Two of them were murdered this Monday. For him, this is not acceptable. “We are asking for an increase in the Public Force, and among them they have to consider more police units in these stations in the towns that are on the edge of the mountain range where terrorist structures of yesteryear commit crimes, in this case the ‘Jaime Martínez’. It is not possible for a town that is in an area where the armed conflict worsens every day to be supported by 12 police officers, that is cannon fodder,” he said.
A few hours later, at the end of a Security Council that was held in Cauca, the Government announced that it was strengthening security in the area. He reported that the deputy director general of the Police will remain in the region, that 100 police officers will be distributed to reinforce capacity in the municipalities, and that an agreement will be signed for nearly 25,000 million pesos (about 6.5 million dollars) to technology, artificial intelligence and cutting-edge cameras that can identify the faces of criminals. The Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, emphasized this Monday in a press conference from Popayán that the Government is “engaged in decisive action against criminal structures in Cauca.”
Faced with the security crisis, different political and social sectors maintain that the upsurge in violence in the region is a symptom of the lack of presence of the State, or at least its inefficiency. The Executive, for its part, argues that it is due, above all, to the actions of the Army and the Police against guerrilla dissidents. Indeed, in March the Government suspended the ceasefire it had with the EMC in the departments of Cauca, Valle del Cauca and Nariño. The explanation then was that the illegal group had repeatedly violated the truce. Two months later, it seems that a war has started in southwestern Colombia.
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