Petro attributed the attack in the conflict region of Cauca to renegade fighters from the former FARC guerrillas and linked it to the struggle to control drug trafficking in the Pacific Rim. “Security forces will not leave Cauca,” he said.
For more than 50 years, Colombia has suffered armed conflicts between armed forces, left-wing guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries. The largest rebel organization, the FARC, which financed itself through kidnapping and drug trafficking, among other things, signed a peace agreement with the government in 2016. The security situation in the South American country has improved since then. However, thousands of so-called FARC dissidents refused to follow. They still fight the government and gangs for control of the drug trade.
Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president and a former guerrilla fighter, restarted the peace process in the formerly civil war-torn country after taking office in August. Colombia is one of the world’s largest producers of cocaine, produced from the coca plant, ahead of Peru and Bolivia. Much of the cocaine is smuggled into the United States. There have also been record seizures in Europe in recent years.