At least three people were killed In Colombia’s central Meta department, the largest city, by alleged members of the Central General Staff (EMC) Former FARC guerrilla’s oppositionA country where the government is holding peace talks and a bilateral ceasefire is in effect.
This was condemned by the governor of Meta, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga, who stated in a video that “today a young couple of farmers, a husband and wife who were extorted, were killed with a rifle” in the municipality of Vista Hermosa. “A peace signatory was also killed this morning in Mesetas, and they told us in the region that it was the opposition,” the official added. The slain former FARC fighter was identified as Yesid Octavio Morales, who owned a tourism business called ‘Charco Azul’ in Mesetas.
According to the Institute for Development and Peace Research (Indepaz), 406 reunited members of the former FARC have been killed since the guerrillas and the Government signed the peace agreement in November 2016. 42 of them were killed this year.
These crimes occurred just one day after EMC announced this. will stop kidnapping for economic purposes – without giving an exact date or saying when it will release those it holds – and will continue peace negotiations with the Government in a new cycle that will take place in Bogotá between January 9-18, 2024.
Asking the national government to take measures to stop the violence in Colombia, Governor Zuluaga said, “Will they continue to kill, extort, recruit minors, bury land mines, put pressure on communities?” asked.