Latest news with #Farc
BBC News
02-07-2025
- BBC News
Colombia violence: Missing social leaders 'killed by rebels', prosecutor says
The bodies of eight Colombian religious and social leaders who had been reported missing in April have been found in a shallow grave in Guaviare province, in south-central Colombia. The prosecutor's office blamed members of a rebel group called Frente Armando Ríos for their said the eight - two women and six men - had been summoned by the rebels to be interrogated about the alleged formation of a rival armed group in the area. There has been no response from Frente Armando Ríos to the is the deadliest country in the world for rights defenders and social leaders, according to a report by international rights organisation Front Line Defenders. The bodies were found in a rural area known as Calamar, where members of the Frente Armando Ríos are group is an off-shoot of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).The Farc signed a peace deal with the Colombian government in 2016 and many of its members laid down their arms, but parts of the group refused to disarm and set up dissident rebel groups such as the Frente Armando Rí offshoots engage in the production and trafficking of cocaine as well as extortion and illegal also engage in armed confrontations with the security forces and with members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) - a rival guerrilla group. According to the statement released by the prosecutor's office, leaders of the Frente Armando Ríos feared that the ELN was setting up a local cell in the reportedly summoned two of the victims for an "interrogation" on 4 April, and the remaining six people three days later. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights organisation specialising in freedom of religion, said all but one were active leaders and members from two Protestant denominations: the Evangelical Alliance of Colombia Denomination (DEAC) and the Foursquare Gospel Church (ICCG). The eighth was the uncle of two of the other them is a married couple - Isaíd Gómez and Maribel Silva - who often preached in their Protestant church. Also among those whose bodies have been found is Maryuri Hernández, who helped the evangelical pastor in the area. She is survived by her five-year-old to CSW, all eight had settled in the area after fleeing violence and violations of freedom of religion in Arauca, a province bordering Venezuela where several armed groups are active. Religious leaders and social leaders are often targeted by armed groups in Colombia which do not tolerate any other authority than their of the victims said the eight had received a message by the Frente Armando Ríos, which demanded that they present themselves for questioning. According to the investigation by the prosecutor's office, days later they were taken to an abandoned property, where they were suspect the order to kill them was given by the inner circle of Iván Mordisco, one of the most powerful commanders of the dissident rebel murder of the eight has been condemned by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who called it "heinous" and denounced it as "a grave attack on the right to life, religious freedom and spiritual and community work".
BBC News
23-06-2025
- BBC News
Colombia says 57 soldiers kidnapped by civilians
Colombia's military says 57 soldiers have been kidnapped by civilians in the country's south-western Micay Canyon area. It says 31 soldiers were seized on Saturday while the rest were abducted on Sunday by a group of more than 200 people. The military says the civilians are acting under pressure from dissidents of the Farc rebel group which agreed a peace deal with the government in mountainous region is a key zone for cocaine production and remains one of the most tense in the country's ongoing conflict with rebel groups. In a video statement on social media, Brig Gen Federico Alberto Mejia said four non-commissioned officers and 53 soldiers had been seized over the weekend."This is called kidnapping," he in local media suggest that the EMC rebel group - the largest offshoot of the Farc - may have ordered the EMC has not commented on the issue. The Micay Canyon is used for transporting cocaine to Pacific ports, and drugs are then illegally shipped to other countries.
South China Morning Post
10-06-2025
- South China Morning Post
At least 4 killed as Colombia hit with wave of bombings and gun attacks
Southwest Colombia was rocked by a string of explosions and gun attacks that left at least four people dead on Tuesday, police said, in what appeared to be a coordinated wave of attacks designed to sow terror. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but guerillas who broke away from the once-powerful Farc rebel army are known to operate in that part of Colombia. The attacks hit Cali – the country's third largest city – and several nearby towns, targeting police stations and other municipal buildings. The National Police chief, Carlos Fernando Triana, told La FM radio that assailants had attacked targets with car bombs, motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone. 'There are two police officers dead, and a number of members of the public are also dead,' he said. Police later said at least two civilians were among those killed, and 12 others were injured.
South China Morning Post
10-06-2025
- South China Morning Post
3 killed as Colombia shaken by wave of deadly explosions amid political unrest
Southwest Colombia was rocked by a string of explosions and gun attacks that left at least three people dead on Tuesday, police said, in what appeared to be a coordinated attack designed to sow terror. The attacks hit Cali – the country's third-largest city – and several nearby towns, targeting police stations and other municipal buildings. The head of police, Carlos Fernando Triana told La FM radio that assailants had attacked targets with car bombs, motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone. 'There are two police officers dead, and a number of members of the public are also dead,' he said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but guerillas who broke away from the once-powerful Farc militia are known to operate in the area. A man looks at destroyed buildings after a car exploded in front of the City Hall in Corinto, Colombia, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP Triana suggested the attacks may be linked to the third anniversary of the killing of Farc dissident leader Leider Johani Noscue, better known as 'Mayimbu.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Joy as Colombian boy, 11, freed after 18 days in rebel captivity
An 11-year-old Colombian boy has been reunited with his family 18 days after he was kidnapped by members of a dissident rebel group. Five armed men wearing balaclavas stormed the boy's home in a rural area of Valle del Cauca province on 3 May and seized him and a domestic employee. They released the employee soon after but held the boy in a shack at a remote location for almost three weeks until they agreed his freedom in negotiations with Colombia's ombudsman's office, the Red Cross and the Catholic Church. Rebel groups in Colombia are notorious for forcibly recruiting children but the boy's abduction from his home at gunpoint nevertheless shocked locals. Police said that the kidnappers were part of the Frente Jaime Martínez, an off-shoot of the Farc rebel group that continued fighting after Farc agreed a 2016 peace deal. The boy's mother described his release as "a miracle", adding that the weeks he had been in captivity had been "horrible, a nightmare". Many dissident rebel groups such as the Frente Jaime Martínez finance themselves through extortion and kidnappings for ransom, as well as drug trafficking. The commander of the regional police force, Brigadier General Carlos Oviedo, said the boy's stepfather had been the real target of the kidnappers, but that they had seized the boy when they found that the stepfather was not at home. The stepfather, a local merchant, told local media that he was not involved in any illicit business and said he did not know why he had been targeted. It is not clear if a ransom was paid for the boy's release. His stepfather said the boy had told the family that he had been shackled for the first four days of his captivity but was in good health. His mother said that her son appeared anxious and that he had bitten his fingernails down. He was taken to the local hospital for examination. The mayor of Jamundí, the town where the family lives, thanked the local community "for not giving up" and for holding rallies demanding the boy's release. Colombia's vice-president, Francia Márquez, had also demanded that the boy be freed. "Ife is sacred and the freedom of any human being is non-negotiable, less so when it's that of a child," she wrote in a statement. Colombian rebel group to end kidnaps for ransom Luis Díaz's father freed by Colombian guerrillas
