Petro announces the suspension of the ceasefire with the Clan del Golfo

The Colombian president Gustav Petro ordered the public forces to reactivate all military operations against the Clan del Golfo. Through Twitter, he asserted that his administration will not allow the criminal group to continue generating anxiety in the communities of the northwest of the country. “The rifle attack on the available police force by the Clan del Golfo breaks the ceasefire,” he said.

On Sunday March 19 the president of ColombiaGustavo Petro, announced the suspension of the bilateral ceasefire with the Clan del Golfo, after the criminal group incited a mining strike in the northwest of the country.

Through his account on the social network Twitter, Petro explained that he ordered the Public Force to reactivate all military operations against the Clan del Golfo. The decision is made a few days after the bilateral ceasefire was fulfilled. “The attack with a rifle on the available police force by the Clan del Golfo breaks the ceasefire. From this moment there is no ceasefire with the gulf clan.

“We will not allow them to continue sowing anxiety and terror in the communities,” Petro said. According to the Colombian authorities, the Clan del Golfo is behind a violent mining strike that has paralyzed the Bajo Cauca region in the department of Antioquia since March 2, where two ambulances were burned last week, despite the fact that the authorities assure that order is restored.

The Government, through the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace (OACP), has already made preliminary contacts with this group, which is made up of some 9,000 people and has control in 14 departments, especially the Pacific and Caribbean.

Unlike the National Liberation Army (ELN) or the dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Colombian government does not want to grant this group a political status, and instead offers submission to justice and establish dialogues that with this suspension of the ceasefire they remain in doubt.

I have ordered the Public Force to reactivate all military operations against the Clan del Golfo. The bilateral cessation with this group outside the law is suspended. We will not allow them to continue sowing anxiety and terror in the communities.

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) March 19, 2023