(Bogotá) Members of the FARC dissident guerrilla group threatened on Tuesday to “fail” the COP16 on biodiversity scheduled for the end of October in Cali, in the southwest of Colombia, according to a statement from this faction.
“COP 16 will fail, even if we militarize the city with ‘gringos’,” wrote members of the Central General Staff (EMC) in a message on the X network addressed to President Gustavo Petro.
“Mr. @PetroGustavo don’t celebrate in vain. […] “Tear off the clothes of the ecologist Petro and you will find a Petro who continues the militaristic security and defense policies of previous governments,” says this armed group.
The EMC, the main faction of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) which did not accept the 2016 peace agreement with this Marxist guerrilla, has recently split between supporters and opponents of peace negotiations with the leftist government of President Petro.
Two departments neighboring the city of Cali, Cauca and Valle del Cauca (of which Cali is the capital), are strongholds of the EMC “fronts” (units) that reject these discussions.
The security situation there has deteriorated sharply in recent months, with security incidents (including several attacks) less than twenty kilometers from Cali, and regular confrontations with security forces.
“Your mission in Cauca will fail without us lifting a finger,” the statement from Tuesday continued.
Despite the latent threat, the left-wing government assures that it is firmly committed to COP16 on biodiversity, scheduled from October 21 to November 2, and which is expected to attract thousands of participants and visitors from around the world.
Security will be provided by Colombian security forces, supported by UN police. “We are maintaining the objective of the COP,” Environment Minister Susana Muhamad told AFP at the end of May, saying she was “assessing the situation very closely” and speaking of a “not easy context.”
The government is negotiating with other EMC “fronts” based elsewhere in the country, with which it announced today an extension of an ongoing truce.