FARC dissidents kidnap nine Colombian state contractors
The advisors were carrying out a humanitarian mission in López de Micay in the Cauca Department when they were kidnapped by the rebels.
A FARC banner in Micay.
Dissidents of the FARC kidnapped nine Colombian state contractors working in a troubled region of the country, the local governor's office said Thursday. Among the victims are seven women.
The advisors were carrying out a humanitarian mission in the municipality of López de Micay in the Cauca Department when they were kidnapped by rebels who have not embraced the 2016 peace deal, revealed a statement picked up by AFP.
The dissidents assured in a text sent to the media that the contractors were handing over and installing "military equipment" from the army. The governor's office said the guerrillas are accusing them "erroneously."
The governor's office of this region, the epicenter of a territorial conflict over control of crops of the main component of cocaine, made an "urgent call" for the release with the help of national and international mediators.
Cauca is where the so-called Estado Mayor Central (EMC) operates, a faction of the dissidents commanded by alias Iván Mordisco, the most wanted criminal in the country.
In mid-June, the EMC perpetrated at least 24 attacks in Cauca and neighboring Valle del Cauca that left two policemen and five civilians dead.
Gustavo Petro proposes "total peace" but fails
Petro tried to negotiate with Mordisco, but the talks failed, as did most of the dialogues with illegal armed groups he pushed for.
In power since August 2022, the president proposed to achieve "total peace" with all illegal structures, but critics say security has been weakened.
Colombia is in the midst of the worst violence crisis since the disarmament of FARC, once the continent's most powerful guerrilla group.
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