The Military Forces and the National Police of Colombia will continue the offensive against drug trafficking and illegal armed groups despite the intention of the President’s Government Gustavo Petro to seek total peace to end the armed conflict, Defense Minister Iván Velásquez said.
Petro, who in August took office as the first left-wing president in Colombia’s history, announced his intention to advance negotiations with guerrilla groups such as the National Liberation Army and two FARC factions that rejected a 2016 peace deal.
The president also offered a submission process to drug traffickers and criminal gangs involved in the production and trafficking of cocaine, who would receive benefits such as reduced sentences in exchange for the denunciation of routes and the delivery of most of their fortunes.
“The presence and activity of the Armed Forces and the National Police has been maintained, there has been no disposition to the contrary. They present results, there is permanent activity,” the defense minister said in an interview with Reuters over the weekend.
“On the contrary, as the president has affirmed, the Armed Forces must always be much more alert and active in peace processes, because it is not that by starting a process of this nature the guard is lowered, the fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities,” he added.
Velásquez, an expert lawyer in the fight against corruption and in the defense of human rights, warned that the leaders and members of the illegal armed groups who have expressed their intention to take advantage of the government’s “total peace” plan that if They do not comply, the law will be applied.
So far, some 10 illegal armed groups, including the two dissidents of the FARC and the Clan del Golfo, initiated a unilateral ceasefire As part of the government’s exploration to achieve “total peace,” the high commissioner for peace, Danilo Rueda, reported at the end of September.
All the organizations that intervene in the Colombian armed conflict of almost six decades and that has left some 450,000 dead are involved in drug trafficking, according to security and government sources.
“We are not going to act naively. It is not that by affirming drug trafficking organizations that they are going to be in the peace process, we are not going to stop complying with the necessary actions of repression of drug trafficking,” warned Velásquez, 67 years old.
no empty spaces
The minister said that the search for peace does not mean the end of drug supply and demand. Velásquez argued that if the illegal armed groups welcome the government’s offer, the Armed Forces should immediately occupy the territories where they have a presence to prevent other organizations from appearing to replace them.
“You can’t leave empty spaces, you can’t leave territories to the fate of an occupation by new actors who intend to take them over,” he said. “A very active presence of the Military Forces and a very strong prevention and reaction action must be developed to prevent new organizations from exploiting this business.”
Velásquez said that the government is also working on a plan for peasants to voluntarily eradicate coca leaf plantations, the raw material for cocaine, and accept crop substitution plans accompanied by social investment, roads, education, health and communications.
“You cannot direct (the offensive) against the weakest links in the drug trafficking chain, but precisely against the owners of the business,” the official assured.
Velasquez stated that The United States will continue to be Colombia’s main ally in the fight against drug trafficking and is currently analyzing how Washington can contribute to increasing intelligence capacity to identify and capture drug trafficking leaders, in addition to improving maritime, river and air interdiction capacity.
The minister denied a plan to reduce the number of members of the Armed Forces and the National Police, as feared by right-wing opposition sectors, but warned that corruption and human rights violations will not be allowed.
Velásquez said that the Armed Forces must be linked to the peace process with all the armed groups.
The official stated that the obsolescence of equipment such as the Israeli-made Kfir combat aircraft is being studied to define possible renewals that guarantee not to reduce the capabilities of the Armed Forces.
The minister assured that reestablishing diplomatic relations with Venezuela will improve security along the 2,219-kilometer binational border that was under the control of criminal groups.
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