Source: France24

At least 52 guerrilla fighters were killed in clashes between two rival armed groups vying for control of ​a strategic cocaine production and trafficking region in Colombia, a faction of the ‌Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) involved in the fighting said in a statement on Thursday.

The clashes, the most violent in recent months, took place 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.

Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed on social media that there ⁠had been fighting in the area, as did the Army, but neither provided details ​on the death toll. Sanchez said troops had been deployed to the area to protect ​the civilian population.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the 52 deaths reported by the guerrilla group.
The fighting took place between a dissident faction of the FARC led by Nestor Gregorio Vera, better known as ​Ivan Mordisco, and another led by Alexander Diaz Mendoza, known as Calarca Cordoba.

Both rejected a ​2016 peace agreement that allowed some 13,000 members of the FARC to lay down their weapons.

The guerrilla ‌group ⁠led by Diaz Mendoza is involved in peace talks with Petro, but Vera’s remains in conflict with authorities after the government suspended a bilateral ceasefire with the faction in 2024.

The fighting took place in the jungles of the department of Guaviare in southeast Colombia, near the ​village of Barranco Colorado.

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.