Deadly attacks in Colombia cast a shadow on the president's peace-with-guerrillas policy

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's anti-government guerrillas have grown stronger under President Gustavo Petro’s three years in office. That strength was on display in brazen attacks this week that included a car bombing and the downing of a police helicopter — violence that left at least 19 people dead.

Authorities blamed both attacks on Thursday on renegade factions of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the notorious FARC rebel group that for decades fought the government, carrying out assassinations, hijackings and bombings to undermine authorities in Bogota.

And while FARC struck a peace deal with the government in 2016 and some members transitioned into a political party, rebels who split from the mainstream have carried on with a terror campaign.

The attacks underscore the failures of Petro’s signature policy of negotiating simultaneously with multiple illegal groups, analysts say, a strategy that has allowed the renegade rebel groups to gain territory and power in areas with historically limited state presence.

The rebels are likely to step up their attacks in attempts to assert their power in the lead-up to Colombia’s presidential election next May, the analysts predict.

A ‘worrying’ use of drones

The police helicopter was transporting personnel to an area in the northern Antioquia region to help with efforts to eradicate coca leaf crops, the raw material for cocaine, when it was brought down. Thirteen police officers died.

Colombia’s police director, Maj. Gen. Carlos Fernando Triana, told reporters on Friday that the rebels used explosive devices, such as homemade dynamite rocket launchers, as well as drones in the attack. But he did not confirm that a drone was solely responsible for downing the helicopter.

The use of the drone showcases not only the insurgents' access to more modern warfare technology but also their new ability to disrupt the country's airspace, long dominated by the Colombian military.

“The use of drones is a worrying and important change in the way insurgent groups are attacking the state,” said Cynthia Arnson, an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

“They don’t need shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles” anymore, she added.

Petro, who in his youth was also in a rebel group, launched negotiations with nine separate insurgent groups and drug trafficking gangs since taking office in 2022 under his “total peace” strategy. But so far, only one small group has agreed to begin a transition toward civilian life.

By 2018, dissidents from FARC and other illegal groups began fighting for the territories the state had failed to protect after FARC disarmed and abandoned the land.

According to Arnson, Petro’s policy then allowed the armed groups “to take advantage of ceasefires to strengthen themselves and their control” over specific areas.

Coca leaf, explosives and drug shipments

The area under coca leaf cultivation in Colombia reached a record 253,000 hectares (about 625,000 acres) in 2023, according to the latest report available from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

Police said Thursday's deployment of the helicopter to Antioquia's rural Amalfi area followed an attack with explosives and gunfire on officers working on eradicating coca leaf crops. The aircraft was hit as it attempted to provide support to the officers who were being attacked on the ground.

Military data show there were 108 drone attacks in Colombia in 2024, while 118 have been reported so far this year. The drones are used to drop explosives and also to monitor army troops and areas of drug shipments, for example.

In the southwest city of Cali, authorities said a vehicle loaded with explosives detonated near a military aviation school on Thursday, killing six people and injuring more than 70 — all civilians.

A presidential election in the mix

Colombians were deeply shaken by the death earlier this month of senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay, who was shot in the head during a political rally in a park in Bogota in June.

The senator died in hospital more than two months after the shooting — an attack that harked back to the political violence of the 1990s, when Medellin drug lord Pablo Escobar declared war on the state.

Uribe Turbay had become one of the strongest critics of Petro, Colombia's first leftist president who is barred from seeking reelection under Colombia's constitution.

Whoever takes the top job after the May elections, will have to factor in the growing footprint of the insurgents, according to Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Petro inherited a complex situation of territorial vacuums in the countryside that dates back to the aftermath of the signing of the peace accord with the FARC, and under his presidency, conditions have deteriorated with “increased rates of forced displacement, confinement, massacres,” Freeman said.

The illegal groups are likely to carry out more “tactical displays of violence” as the election nears, he added.

“Demonstrating their power through these kind of spectacular public attacks is a way to improve their negotiating position or send a strong message,” Freeman said.

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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.