In Colombia, the chain of violence did not even break under the government of the first president from the left spectrum. Eight police officers were killed in an explosion in their vehicle on Friday. President Gustavo Petro tweeted that he strongly condemned the attack in San Luis, Huila province. In his inaugural address in early August, the former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement announced that he would unite the divided country.
The acts of terror would sabotage the “total peace” he had promised, Petro complained and expressed his condolences to the families of the murdered police officers. The attack took place in a rural area in the western part of the country’s Huila department, Petro said on Twitter. A police spokeswoman in the region said it was an attack on a police patrol. The attack is believed to have initially been carried out with explosives, then the attackers opened fire with firearms.
Ex-guerrilla fighter Petro wants ceasefire
It is the deadliest attack on police since Petros took office in early August. The authorities initially did not provide any information about the suspected perpetrators. However, security circles pointed out that dissidents from the rebel group FARC were active in the area of the attack. The left-wing FARC has been fighting the Colombian government for years, concluded a peace agreement with the state in 2016 and surrendered its weapons. In 2019, however, a small faction of the FARC announced rearmament because the deal with the government had been broken.
At least 450,000 people died in Colombia between 1985 and 2018 in clashes between government forces, left-wing rebel groups, right-wing militias and drug cartels. The first left-wing head of state in the history of the South American country, himself a former guerrilla fighter, is also seeking a ceasefire with splinter groups of the former guerrilla group FARC and armed drug gangs.
The president also wants to resume the interrupted peace negotiations with the guerrilla group ELN. Talks were interrupted after an ELN car bomb attack on a police academy in Bogotá in 2019 that killed more than 20 people.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
