(Canyon del Micay) At least eight people have been killed in southwestern Colombia since the start of an offensive by the Colombian army against the main dissident faction of the FARC, we learned Tuesday from military source, after the suspension of the truce decided by the government.
Over the past week, the operation left “eight dead and 17 injured” in the ranks of this armed faction, said the commander of the military forces of the Cauca region (southwest), General Federico Mejia, saying it was based on intercepted communications between the rebels.
The victims, General Mejia said, were recorded in the Micay canyon (Cauca), a landlocked mountain territory in the Cauca department and one of the strongholds of the Central Staff (EMC), the main faction army of dissidents who reject the 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
On Tuesday, the situation in the Micay canyon was calm and normal, AFP journalists on site noted.
On Sunday, they went to the town of El Plateado, under EMC control, but close to the army’s first positions, a few hundred meters from the edge of the town. There too the situation was calm, even if sporadic skirmishes have been reported in recent days in the mountains overlooking this locality, according to an EMC officer on site.
On March 17, the government announced the suspension in three departments of the country of the truce concluded with this group, after several incidents involving the EMC.
This weekend, the army announced the launch of a vast offensive, called “Operation Mantus”, to “curb the criminal action of the EMC in the southwest of the country”. This offensive provides for the deployment of 32,000 soldiers in the three neighboring departments affected by the end of the truce, all three along the Pacific coast and a major cocaine production zone.
“Constant fighting”
“Aerial assets, notably helicopters and drones, have been deployed,” said the head of the army, General Helder Giraldo, according to whom the army’s priority was to “protect the civilian population and anticipate any action that these criminal groups may intend to carry out, not only in the three departments concerned, but throughout the country.”
Since the start of “Operation Mantus” on March 20, “constant fighting” has been reported and “11 deep operations” have been carried out against the dissidents, according to General Mejia.
Entering the Micay Canyon on March 23, AFP journalists spent several days alongside one of the main commanders of the Front Carlos Patino, who at no time reported major clashes.
In this canyon, invaded by coca plantations, the situation was perfectly normal throughout the beginning of the week, the journalists noted.
In the locality of San Juan del Micay in particular, the population benefited from a “carnival” organized over several days, with the provision to the communities of an ambulance and a health center, financed jointly by these same communities and the dissidence. of the FARC.
“This ambulance and this health center, for us it is a dream come true,” said local leader Adriana Rivera. “This area has always been completely abandoned by the State. Everything we have here, schools, roads… it was the farmers who built it themselves. The FARC gives us guidance and helps us carry out certain projects.”
This inauguration, with ribbon cutting, quickly sparked controversy in the national media, and an embarrassed response from the government: Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez described it as a “blow to institutions”, recognizing that the absence of the State in these territories allowed armed groups to “legitimize” themselves among the communities and demonstrate their power to administer these same regions.
Historically without state presence, like many isolated regions of Colombia, the Canyon del Micay is one of the main areas of cocaine production, under the tight control of the EMC.