The head of the largest dissident branch of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group has called on rebel groups to come together to fight US interventionism.
Nestor Gregorio Lozada, better known by his pseudonym “Ivan Mordisco”, stated in a video message that the move was necessary to counter any US intervention in the region.
The call came after President Donald Trump responded that a possible operation targeting Colombia “sounds good to me” when asked if he might order US military action against the country.
He has also called Colombia‘s President Gustavo Petro a “sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States”.
Those comments caused alarm after a US incursion in neighbouring Venezuela left the country’s President Nicolas Maduro in US custody.
However, unlike Venezuela, Colombia’s military has strong ties with the US.
Sky News’ senior foreign producer Dominique van Heerden explained: “The American military has a well-established and strong working relationship with the Colombian military; this is a partnership that has been strengthened in recent years despite political differences between the current administrations.
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“The US military has a near-zero working relationship with the Venezuelan military, especially in recent years.
“The Colombian military goes to great lengths to try and stop cocaine production in the country, facing an uphill battle.
“While the Venezuelan military was accused of playing a significant role in the transportation of cocaine through Venezuela and showed no willingness to tackle the problem.”
Armed conflict has killed over 450,000 people
Unlike Venezuela, where any power struggles have tended to be intra-governmental, Colombia suffered from an armed conflict between the government and various rebel groups – including FARC – for over 50 years.
A highly contested peace deal between Colombia’s government and FARC was reached in 2016.
Then president Juan Manuel Santos pushed the deal through with dozens of changes after Colombians rejected a previous peace deal weeks earlier in a referendum.
Despite the deal, sporadic fighting continues in some rural areas between the army and splinter groups which reject the 2016 deal.
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Colombia’s incumbent president is himself a former rebel fighter and the country’s first left-wing president.
Mr Petro was elected in 2022 on promises to bring “total peace” to Colombia and end the armed conflict that has killed more than 450,000 people.
Carlos Ruiz Massieu, special representative for the UN secretary-general and head of the UN verification mission in Colombia, has sounded the alarm over resurging violence.
He warned that in some parts of the country, the situation had deteriorated with the arrival of armed actors, who had taken advantage of the state’s limited presence and sought control over illicit economies.
It is those actors, not the Colombian military, that President Trump is likely to target if he does decide to turn operation Colombia from sound bite to reality.
