Petro to announce security measures as Gulf Clan escalates violence across Colombia

Colombian President Gustavo Petro will unveil heightened security measures on Monday during a live national broadcast of a Cabinet meeting at Casa de Nariño, following the killings of 27 police officers and soldiers in attacks attributed to the Clan del Golfo, one of the country’s most powerful criminal organizations.

The group, also known as the Gaitanist Army of Colombia (EGC), launched a wave of violence in recent weeks as part of what it calls its “Plan Pistola” — a terror campaign of targeted killings aimed at both on- and off-duty members of the security forces. Authorities say the murders mark a dangerous escalation by armed groups operating in several departments of the country, including Chocó, Risaralda, Antioquia, Norte de Santander, Cesar and Córdoba.

President Petro, accompanied by Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez, will address the nation in a bid to reassure Colombians and outline the government’s response to what he described as a “systematic murder of the people’s children.”

“They have killed 27 police officers and soldiers,” Petro posted on social media platform X, alongside photographs of the deceased. “We will not back down. We will intensify the offensive against the Clan. They have no escape route. Either they abandon their illicit activities and reintegrate into a process of regional prosperity under the rule of law and democracy, or a global alliance will be strengthened to destroy the Gulf Clan.”

Petro, who has pledged to reach “Total Peace” by negotiating with armed groups, is under intense pressure as violence intensifies across the country. On Friday, Interior Minister Armando Benedetti admitted that the government’s total peace policy “has not gone well,” acknowledging the challenges of negotiating with criminal organizations that continue to operate drug trafficking and extortion networks.

Defense Minister Sánchez said the attacks resemble tactics used by drug cartels in the 1980s, including the use of paid assassins, infiltration of local communities, and the carving up of national territory into criminal strongholds. The Gulf Clan maintains influence in northwestern Colombia, while other groups, including the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla, operate along the border departments with Venezuela, among them, Arauca, La Guajira and Norte de Santander.

In an interview with the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, Sánchez confirmed that members of the security forces have been infiltrated by criminal groups, posing a significant challenge to national security. “These groups have managed to penetrate the Armed Forces and the National Police, which means there are criminals inside our institutions,” Sánchez said. “The full weight of the law will be applied. Very likely, in the coming days, several of them will be captured.”

Authorities believe that the Gulf Clan has begun subcontracting local gangs to carry out targeted killings, offering financial incentives to execute members of the police and military. The Defense Minister warned that these attacks are part of a broader strategy by the EGC to weaken state institutions and maintain control over strategic drug routes.

Monday’s Cabinet meeting will include a review of the government’s current security strategy, with Petro expected to present an assessment of measures implemented since taking office and announce new actions to curb the rising violence. “The goal is to evaluate the security situation and the policies taken, their successes and failures,” Petro said in a brief statement.

As officials prepared for the national address, another soldier was killed in a rural area of the municipality of Frontino, Antioquia. According to the military, 23-year-old Alejandro José Bejarano, from Quibdó, Chocó, was fatally shot during a patrol believed to have been ambushed by Gulf Clan members. A second soldier was wounded in the attack and transported to a nearby medical facility.

The Gulf Clan, which emerged from the remnants of far-right paramilitary groups, has grown into a powerful drug trafficking network with international links. Although the Petro administration initially opened channels of dialogue with the group, talks were suspended in February after security forces targeted its leadership.

One of the group’s top commanders, known as “Chiquito Malo” (Bad Shorty), survived a police operation earlier this year. Days later, another senior figure, known as “Terror,” was killed alongside several bodyguards in a separate raid.

Petro’s national address on Monday is expected to outline the next phase of Colombia’s security strategy, as his administration seeks to regain some degree of control over territories increasingly dominated by drug trafficking cartels, trans-nations gangs such as Tren de Aragua (TdeA) and FARC dissidents.