(Bogotá) Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Sunday suspended the ceasefire he had reached on December 31 with the Gulf Clan cartel, the country’s main drug trafficking gang, because of attacks against civilians.
“I have ordered security forces to reactivate all military operations against the Gulf Clan,” Gustavo Petro wrote on Twitter.
According to the government, the organization has been intimidating and attacking villagers in the northwest of the country for more than two weeks.
“We will not let them continue to sow concern and terror in the communities,” Mr. Petro added.
On December 31, the Colombian government announced a bilateral ceasefire with the Clan del Golfo, but also the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN, Guevarist), the dissident groups of the former Marxist guerrillas of the FARC , who did not sign the 2016 peace agreement, and a group of paramilitaries.
This was the first step towards a negotiation with all the armed groups in Colombia of the country’s first left-wing government.
However, the government accuses the Gulf Clan of violating the ceasefire by encouraging attacks by illegal miners in the northwest of the country.
Illegal mine workers have been protesting since the beginning of March against the operations carried out by the military and the police which destroy the machines with which they extract gold.
Upon coming to power, Gustavo Petro launched an ambitious “total peace” project aimed at ending violence in the country after more than 50 years of internal war.
However, the ELN quickly denied being part of the truce and the talks that are underway with this guerrilla, the last one still active in Colombia. The government, for its part, has since detected ceasefire violations by FARC dissidents.
Almost as much as the cocaine trade, Colombian armed groups profit from illegal mining, which causes significant deforestation and mercury pollution of waterways.
President Petro accuses the Gulf Clan of prioritizing profits from illegal gold over peace talks and claims they have taken advantage of the ceasefire to increase their presence in illegal mines.
According to official estimates, the Gulf cartel is responsible for 30 to 60 percent of drug exports from Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine.