MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombian Army kills 15 rebels after failing peace talks

These things happen when you leave the negotiating table, Petro explained

Colombia's Army this week gunned down 15 rebels from the EMC guerrillas, a dissident group from the old FARC operating in the department of Cauca that refuses to enter peace talks with Bogotá. “War is war,” President Gustavo Petro argued after the latest military update, meaning that these things happen when one of the parties leaves the negotiating table. Another 12 rogue fighters were wounded, it was reported.

The military operations are still ongoing in El Plateado, in the municipality of Argelia, one of the most disputed territories in southwest Colombia, where a motorcycle bomb went off Wednesday causing some material damage. El Plateado is one of the main red zones since the ceasefire with the EMC was lifted.

Peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the EMC were left in doubt after the dissident group split into two factions at the initiative of the rebel leader known as Iván Mordisco. Hence, the Government considers that there are two groups within the EMC, the most belligerent with which it has broken the ceasefire and is no longer negotiating, and the Magdalena Medio and Catatumbo fronts and those in the south of the country, with which it still wants to hold talks.

In this scenario, the Armed Forces have upped their offensive against the guerrillas in three Colombian departments after the dissidents killed an indigenous leader and wounded two others in Cauca.

El Plateado was also a turning point in November last year when a platoon of 200 was held back, although the delegations later managed to iron out their differences and hold additional rounds of dialogue.

“We must not play with peace, if it is war it is war. Stopping the war implies being serious about Peace. The EMC in Cauca has not had it by killing the civilian population,” Petro wrote on X while describing Thursday's military operation as “the largest action against” the EMC after he ordered the ceasefire lifted.