Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday suspended a ceasefire with a faction that once belonged to the armed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group.
The faction broke with FARC when it signed a peace pact in 2016 with the government to bring an end to five decades of fighting.
FARC fighters laid down their arms as part of the pact, but some older rebel groups, as well as new ones that emerged later, didn’t demobilize.
Peace talks to continue despite suspension of ceasefire with FARC dissident faction
The ceasefire between the government and the FARC dissident group expired earlier this week. An extension was expected to be agreed upon, but could not be closed in time.
Petro said in a statement he did “not extend the bilateral and temporary ceasefire with respect to the civilian population.”
Petro emphasized that this decision did not imply the end of peace talks with the group.
Now, both parties have 72 hours to move to locations where they will take up their own security and protection measures.
The ceasefire had been in effect since December 2023 and was extended several times. In 2024, Petro suspended ceasefires with parts of the dissident group, after their fighters attacked an Indigenous community.
Petro’s promise to end all conflict in the country
with several illegal armed groups is part of Petro’s ambitious government policy to achieve “paz total” or “total peace.”
Since taking office in 2022, he has held talks with several groups. However, many fighters and armed groups reject peace with the Colombian government.
NGO slams breakdown of ceasefire
Leonardo Gonzalez, director of a non-governmental peace organization, Indepaz, posted to X that the government’s decision “represents a serious setback for the communities that inhabit territories historically affected by the armed conflict.”
Gonzalez said the collapse of the ceasefire paved the way for hostilities to resume and a breakdown of social, environmental and economic programs “in areas where the institutional presence is already weak or non-existent.”
There was no immediate reaction from the dissident group.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
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