During a meeting with admirals and generals of the military forces at the José María Córdova Military School for Cadets, President Gustavo Petro insisted that new strategies be implemented to confront the threats that the country faces, mainly illegal economies should go.
The president referred to the issue of peace and talks with the ELN, an armed group in which he assured that: “There is no ceasefire, they did not want it, there is a war in the region, above all, between them and other groups”. , not with the state.
The President also referred to the new generations who are militants in the said armed group and their links with the members of the Central Command.
“Today’s ELN, what Antonio García calls the new generation, has another argument, a very different argument,” said the president, “the fronts are autonomous, federal, they all revolve around the illegal economy and much more There is little to do. Father Camilo Torres, they have the same flag, yes “.
The President stressed that dialogue with armed groups does not mean that one should lower one’s security, least of all against illegal economies.
“That doesn’t mean the guard is reduced to its illegal economy, it should be destroyed. If he feels the rattling is useless he’ll say yes to the table and we’ll be here, there, on time, human beings.” Will save lives”, said President Petro.
In an academic atmosphere, the head of state visited the different stages of violence in Colombia, recalling that for 72 years there has not been a day of peace, but the dangers grow “like the layers of an onion”, but “deep inside are the foundation and the roots which create the present situation in the country.
He recalled that, over time, violence changes and assured that ideology is already a thing of the past, it does not exist, what prevails today is the power of money and territorial control.
As if describing a picture of the current reality, President Petro said that when fighters die “they throw them around as if they were bricks, they are not interested in human beings, they are no longer their ideological fighters”. , are the companions of those who fell”
They are “an input they bought with money, they are paid, they die, they go the next day, they come back with the money and replace them,” he said.
For this reason, he assures that they are “eternal” illegal armies, which represent a difficulty for the state, because “they can keep up with the times, as long as there is a market that recruits people for war”. allows them to, they can follow that market.” And it is represented by the absence of the state, poverty and lack of opportunities for young people.
Submission and Negotiation
In his talks with senior officials, the head of state mentioned the issue of peace and explained that Colombian regulations “separate the political dialogue, which characterizes the second stage of the process, that of power,” with regard to Justice submission, which is a legal agreement established between judges and criminals; This is not politics, this is not about power.”
For this reason, he put forth his experience with the ELN, of which he said, “There is no ceasefire, they didn’t want it, there is a war in the territory, above all, between them and other groups, within the state.” with not .
“The ELN has changed, it is not an insurgent group like before, it is fighting the territory for the illegal economy,” he said.
In parallel, he mentioned the del Golfo clan, about whom he assured that “they can say ‘yes, we accept the truce’, they said so and how do they imagine the truce? That the state will fight against us.” doesn’t come for, it doesn’t interfere here in the field; well, that’s good, because we’re doing what we’re doing, which is rattling around”.
However, he commented that “the experience with Clan del Golfo showed us that as soon as we went for the dredges and mobilized them, the strike broke, ie we didn’t mobilize the dredgers. What did that show us? The issue was in that area. I was in Dredge.
