The Colombian government on Sunday he said that the ceasefire in force for months with the EMC, the most important dissident group of the country’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), will be suspended starting from March 20th. The decree that formalized the decision provides for the restart of military operations in the provinces of Nariño, Cauca and Valle del Cauca, where according to the government attacks against an indigenous community took place by the EMC, which therefore broke the agreement. The EMC (Estado Mayor Central) is a group of left-wing fighters, made up of around 3,000 guerrillas who had not accepted the 2016 agreement between the government and the FARC, which for decades was the main left-wing formation of the Colombian guerrilla movement . According to the Colombian government, EMC is involved in illegal mining operations and drug trafficking.
The ceasefire with the EMC began in October 2023 and its beginning coincided with the opening of peace negotiations between the EMC and the left-wing government of Gustavo Petro. Already in November 2023 the talks were interrupted as the EMC accused the government of continuing to “favor a militaristic approach”. Although negotiations have restarted, in early March Alexander Diaz Mendoza, one of the leaders of the EMC, he said a Reuters that it seems unlikely to him that an agreement will be reached before the end of Petro’s mandate in 2026. The ceasefire had already been suspended in the past: the last time it had already been suspended in the past: the last time after the killing of four indigenous people who had defected from the EMC. Negotiations are not mentioned in Sunday’s decree.