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Internal disagreements within the FARC Colombian rebel group appear to have resulted in a deadly confrontation. The official monitoring and verification team working in the Colombia’s southern department of Caquetá is investigating the events in which two members of the FARC appear to have been killed by their comrades after vehemently disagreeing with the landmark agreement reached with the Colombian government.
According to the newspaper El Tiempo, between 12 and 15 soldiers from the FARC’s “Teófilo Forero” mobile column arrived at a farm where several FARC dissidents had congregated after leaving the so-called “pre-grouping areas” where the guerrillas that are participating in the peace agreement are sent to await reintegration into society.
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A peasant who witnessed the incident said that he had seen FARC members enter the ranch and that there were later shots fired. Thereafter, many of the suspected dissidents members attempted to flee the area. Two such members were allegedly killed and buried by their former FARC comrades.
The members of the FARC that are in disagreement with the peace deal are part of the FARC’s 14th Front, which is dedicated to the business of drug trafficking, which is likely the principal reason for their resistance towards the agreement. Some dissident FARC members are hesitant to leave the business, due to the lucrative nature of the drug trade, which has fueled Colombia’s internal armed conflict for the better part of two generations.
This is not the first time that members of the FARC have attacked soldiers within their own ranks. The first case occurred in the Pacific port of Tumaco, Nariño, located in the country’s southwest, when members of the subversive group killed two dissidents and wounded two more, a fact that was also reported by the control and verification team.
On that occasion a guerrilla leader known as “Don Y”, who had declared his public opposition to the peace deal and formed a new drug trafficking network, was also assassinated by his former comrades.
Source: El Tiempo
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