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Death Toll Rises to 20 in Colombian Operation Against FARC Dissidents
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Disasters & Emergencies

Death Toll Rises to 20 in Colombian Operation Against FARC Dissidents

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Colombia’s president said an operation against the Carolina Ramírez faction of the EMC left 20 people dead, five captured, and two minors recovered in Guaviare.
  • Authorities reported seizing rifles, machine guns, pistols, field equipment, and tactical vests, while the president said the operation weakened the group’s military and logistical capacity.
  • The operation came amid a shift toward military action under President Abelardo de la Espriella, who has ended talks with several armed groups begun under Gustavo Petro.

A Colombian military operation against a FARC dissident faction in Guaviare has killed 20 people, according to President Abelardo de la Espriella, who presented the action as a direct blow against the group’s armed infrastructure.

The president said Operation Azarías affected 27 members of the Carolina Ramírez structure: 20 were killed during military operations, five were captured, and two minors were recovered. Authorities also seized 26 rifles, four machine guns, three pistols, 10 field packs, and 13 tactical vests.

Operation Azarías has so far left 27 members of the Carolina Ramírez structure affected: 20 dead during military operations, five captured, and two minors recovered.

— Abelardo de la EspriellaThe Colombian president gave the reported outcome of the operation in Guaviare.

Earlier in the day, officials had reported eight deaths, including the alleged commander of the Carolina Ramírez Front, known as El Tigre. De la Espriella said the man had been identified through fingerprint testing. The government said the operation weakened the faction’s military, logistical, and financial capabilities and disrupted its control of drug-trafficking corridors.

This blow affects the organization’s military, logistical, and financial capabilities and weakens its control over drug-trafficking corridors.

— Abelardo de la EspriellaThe president described the government’s assessment of the operation’s impact.

The announcement came hours after Colombia’s National Institute of Legal Medicine confirmed that three minors were among 10 people killed in a separate bombing in Guaviare the previous Thursday. A fourth minor also died in another military operation in the south of the country in recent days.

Since taking office on Aug. 7, De la Espriella has favored military force over dialogue with armed groups, reversing the emphasis of Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” policy. On Sunday, he confirmed that talks with three illegal armed groups had ended, saying they lacked a willingness to pursue peace. The government also revoked the appointments and recognition of delegates involved in talks with two FARC dissident groups and the Sierra Nevada paramilitary organization.

To Mordisco and his structures: the offensive continues. We are going after your leaders, your men, your weapons, and your criminal finances. You will have no safe territory in which to hide.

— Abelardo de la EspriellaThe president warned the EMC leadership after announcing the operation.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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