After nearly two months of blockades in Caquetá over an exploration project by Emerald Energy, tensions have elevated the conflict to a new high after riot police cleared protesters by force last week.
The toll of the latest Farc offensive, one with grave environmental consequences, has shown itself in a recent Gallup poll which found that 46% of Colombians support a military-led approach to defeating the Farc, one percentage point above those who favor negotiations.
The total incident count was back up slightly to 35 although guerrilla-initiated incidents (by our methodology) were down by 2 but the 4-week trend continued up.
Attacks on Colombia’s pipeline sit squarely in the center of the guerrilla’s strategy, and in 2014 the 136 registered attacks had an estimated impact of CoP$142.14B (US$55.7M) in repair costs alone, according to a study from the Colombian Chamber of Oil Goods and Services (Campetrol).
The Farc has asked President Juan Manuel Santos to make a truce amidst violence and “silence the weapons” while the two sides establish a bilateral cease-fire.
The total incident count was down to 34 but guerrilla-initiated incidents (by our methodology) were up by 3, continuing the recent trend.
The end of the unilateral cease fire from the Farc has put oil infrastructure back in the cross hairs of the guerrilla, with disastrous consequences for operators in the south of Colombia, in particular in Putumayo.
In light of the recent escalation of violence, Senator Alvaro Uribe has presented a proposal to be considered in the dialogue that would allow the guerrilla group to keep arms and reduce their penalties. The former president issued documents stating all of his proposals to the peace negotiators in Havana.
A mix of social organizations, municipal governments, the departmental government and control entities such as the Regional Controller met in Puerto Asís and signed a regional peace agreement in light of the human rights violations which have taken place in the conflict-ridden department of Putumayo.
The legal representative of a transportation contractor has been arrested as the intellectual author of the murder of Edith del Consuelo Santos Jiménez, in a case that displays the dark side of how some local companies are awarded contracts.
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