Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella announced Thursday that the country’s Armed Forces have carried out a military strike against the FARC dissident faction commanded by alias Calarcá in the southern department of Guaviare. According to initial reports, eight members of the criminal armed group have been killed.
De la Espriella said the operation, code-named AMÓN, was conducted in the early hours of Thursday in a rural area of El Retorno against camps allegedly used by the Jorge Suárez Briceño Bloc, a structure belonging to the dissident faction of the former FARC.
The president described the operation as a “decisive blow” against the organization and said the offensive would continue after the military seized over a dozen rifles and five machine guns. According to De La Espriella, the operation began with a precision aerial bombardment followed by an assault by military commandos.
The strike was carried out by Colombia’s Joint Special Operations Command. According to information cited by El Tiempo, the operation was directed against the Rodrigo Cadete structure and also involved five Kfir fighter jets and six Super Tucano aircraft.
De la Espriella had signaled earlier Thursday that he would announce the results of a major military operation, warning that his government’s offensive against organized crime would continue. “For now, I can only say one thing: the offensive against crime will not stop,” he said.
Hours later, he expanded the message, portraying the Guaviare operation as part of a broader change in the government’s security strategy. “Colombia must know that we are going on the offensive,” De la Espriella added, highlighting that the country’s principal armed-group commanders and their criminal organizations would have no safe haven.“The major commanders and their criminal structures will have nowhere to hide and no sanctuary anywhere in the national territory,” he said.
The operation represents the second major aerial strike announced by the De la Espriella government this month. On August 11, the armed forces carried out an operation against the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla in the mountainous Catatumbo region. Authorities said at the time that the aerial operation caused no reported harm to civilians.
The government has presented the military actions as part of a security strategy for its first 100 days in office. The plan includes 15 so-called ‘beta operations’ aimed at disrupting armed organizations and targeting their senior commanders.
The latest operation underscores the government’s increasingly confrontational posture toward Colombia’s armed groups, particularly factions that have continued to operate in territories once controlled by the FARC.
Alias Calarcá, identified by Colombian authorities as one of the principal commanders of the dissident Estado Mayor de Bloques y Frentes, has emerged as a central figure among Colombia’s remaining FARC dissident structures. The groups are involved in activities including drug trafficking, illegal mining, extortion and territorial control.
For De la Espriella, the Guaviare operation is intended to demonstrate that the state is seeking to regain the initiative militarily. The president said troops would remain in the area as the operation continued and that the Armed Forces were advancing toward the consolidation of government control.
