Dozens killed as rival FARC dissident factions clash in Colombia's Guaviare jungle days before presidential election
At least 52 guerrilla fighters were killed in fierce clashes between rival FARC dissident groups battling for control of cocaine trafficking routes in southeastern Colombia, just three days before the country's presidential election.
The clash
At least 52 guerrilla fighters were killed in clashes between two rival armed groups vying for territorial control of a strategic cocaine production and trafficking region in southeastern Colombia, a faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) involved in the fighting said in a statement on Thursday. The fighting took place in the jungles of the department of Guaviare, near the village of Barranco Colorado. The clashes are the most violent in recent months.
The bodies are piled up there, they have to be evacuated.
Willy Rodríguez, mayor of San José del Guaviare, told AFP that the death toll could be higher than 50. Authorities have not yet been able to reach the site of the confrontations, and the casualty count comes from the local community, which was caught in the crossfire. Videos circulating on social media recorded heavy sounds of gunfire from inside one of the houses in that remote area. Rescue teams are waiting for the armed groups to allow them to collect the bodies in a location where there is a high probability of anti-personnel mines. Reaching the site from the regional capital, San José del Guaviare, takes approximately six hours in a 4x4 truck, according to Rodríguez.
The rival factions
The fighting took place between a dissident faction of the FARC led by Néstor Gregorio Vera, better known as Iván Mordisco, and another led by Alexander Díaz Mendoza, known as Calarcá Córdoba. Both rejected the 2016 peace agreement that allowed about 13,000 members of the FARC to lay down their weapons. The guerrilla group led by Díaz Mendoza is involved in peace talks with President Gustavo Petro, but Vera's faction remains in conflict with authorities after the government suspended a bilateral ceasefire with the faction in 2024. The dissident faction of Calarcá reported 52 combat casualties, all but two from Mordisco's ranks. The EMBF 'Isaías Carvajal' structure recounted that they were resting in a camp located in the rural area of La Siberia when they were surprised by about 250 of Mordisco's men.
The brutal criminal clash would have caused several victims, presumably among the members of these illegal armed groups, some of whom could be minors.
Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed on social media that there had been fighting in the area, as did the Army, but neither provided details on the death toll. Sánchez said troops had been deployed to the area to protect the civilian population. The Army's 22nd Brigade maintains a strategic presence in the rural area of San José del Guaviare with the objective of protecting the civilian population, strengthening security, preserving territorial control, and guaranteeing respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.
Election context
The clashes come just days ahead of Sunday's presidential election, when Colombians will elect a successor to leftist President Gustavo Petro, who has struggled to implement peace talks with the country's numerous armed groups. Interior Minister Armando Benedetti accused the FARC dissident factions of trying to influence the vote.
They continue to be criminal structures, who have no love for life, who are of death and who would seem to be trying to influence or have some interference in the voting, whether by coercion or by showing a weakness to the State.
Sánchez assured that 408,000 members of the public force were deployed throughout the country to guarantee security during the presidential elections, in addition to aircraft, ships, drones, anti-drones, and armored vehicles. "Holding elections in Colombia is not the same as holding them in Switzerland (...) there are risks to democracy, that must not be ignored," he told Noticias Caracol.
Ceasefire and broader conflict
Last week, the FARC's largest dissident group, the Central General Staff, announced a nationwide suspension of its military operations against the country's public forces between May 20 and June 10. The group, however, did not announce a complete suspension of all military activity, meaning confrontations with other armed groups would not be included in its pause of operations. Rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN) also announced a separate ceasefire ahead of the weekend's election. The armed conflict, which has lasted more than six decades and is financed primarily by drug trafficking and illegal mining, has left more than 450,000 dead and millions displaced.
- Another confrontation between the same groups leaves around 30 dead in Guaviare.
- Government suspends bilateral ceasefire with Iván Mordisco's faction.
- FARC's Central General Staff announces suspension of military operations against public forces until June 10.
- Rival FARC dissident factions clash near Barranco Colorado, Guaviare; at least 52 killed.
- Colombia's presidential election scheduled.
Guaviare is one of the historical bastions of the guerrilla. That territory is today in dispute between dissident groups that turned their backs on the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC. They have "a single objective: the criminal economy, living from drug trafficking (...) It is inconceivable, it is absurd," Minister Sánchez said earlier to Blu Radio. In January of this year, another confrontation between these groups left around thirty dead.
