Clan Del Golfo, ELN & Los Rastrojos Look for Peace Talks with New Colombian President

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Several armed groups, including drug cartels, offered to enter into peace talks with the new regime of former guerilla-turned-President Gustavo Petro.

Structures of Organized Armed Groups "GAO" spoke on the day of the passing of command from the current former president of the Republic, Iván Duque Márquez, to the current Colombian president Gustavo Petro Urrego. The GAOs indicated that they are willing to enter into dialogue with the new government and carry out a ceasefire. The Clan del Golfo, Los Rastrojos Costeños, and the ELN are willing to submit to justice in the government of Colombia.

“The war on drugs strengthens the mafias and weakens the States”, thus began Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia, in his speech about one of the most important issues for the country and that generates controversy.

Clan del Golfo also known as the Gaitanisa Self-Defense Forces have become Colombia's largest cartel after refusing to demobilize.

Clan del Golfo

The Organized Armed Group -GAO- Clan del Golfo, or Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia -AGC-, decreed a cessation of hostilities and announced its decision through a statement:

"At last the outgoing regime of President Duque ends, which is representative of all the things that must change in a country to achieve the elusive peace," the AGC statement begins.

They added that: “ Consistent with these historical dates, we also decree a unilateral cessation of offensive hostilities, as an expression of goodwill with the initiating government and its broad willingness to search for paths of peace for all the actors in the conflict, as of 7 August. On August 7, which we hope will be the beginning of a different era for our troubled homeland, we will lift all the extreme measures that we have had to execute, as we already announced in a statement in the previous days ”.

Finally, they indicated that they have the best will to join the exploratory peace talks that Gustavo Petro has announced since the moment of his election: "We believe that it is the best decision for the forgotten Colombia that we represent," they emphasized.

The Urabeños, also known as the Gulf Clan (Clan del Golfo) and the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC), emerged from the ashes of Colombia’s paramilitary movement to become the dominant criminal force in Colombia, with a reach that spread across the country. However, under pressure from authorities, the hold that leadership has over local cells that form this national network is getting weaker, and the group stands on the precipice of splintering into independent factions.

After its leader's extradition to the US, the Clan del Golfo unleashed a wave of violence and placed bounties on killing police officers before calling for peace.

After the extradition of its main leader, Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, alias Otoniel to the United States, the group unleashed a wave of violence and a 'Pistol Plan' against policemen killing 38 before calling a ceasefire after being urged by its leader from US prison and Petro taking office. The pistol plan is a criminal strategy pioneered by Pablo Escobar to put pressure on the State that consists of the systematic and unsuspecting murder of members of the Public Force, which has left more than a dozen soldiers dead in recent weeks. As part of the group's murder campaign, the Urabeños are purportedly offering between $1,000 and $4,000 for each police officer killed (approximately 4.5 to 18 million Colombian pesos).

According to the Peace & Reconciliation Foundation (Pares), during just six days of armed strikes, there were 145 damages in nine departments, especially in the Caribbean and the Northwest, which included 22 murders, four roadblocks, and three armed confrontations.

In his message, the former head of the Clan del Golfo extended "a call to the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) to cease all activities against the Colombian Public Force." In addition, he recommended to those who were previously his subordinates to cease the armed strikes in their areas of influence, "because the civilian population is being harmed." Finally, Otoniel extended an invitation to the incoming national government, headed by left-wing politician Gustavo Petro, to "seek a peace agreement that all Colombians yearn for."

Los Rastrojos traces its roots as an armed wing of the Norte del Valle cartel that broke off from the Cali Cartel.

Los Rastrojos

Los Rastrojos Costeños joined the desire for a ceasefire, dialogue and peace of the Organized Armed Groups of Colombia, through a statement they indicated that they are willing to start talks with the new Government of Gustavo Petro.

The statement was issued by Víctor Carlos Pérez de Alba war front, who reported that from that moment the Rastrojos Costeños would stop all military action against the national government and the civilian population, where their organization is located in the departments of Atlántico, Bolivar, Magdalena, Cesar, Santander, and Valle del Cauca.

"From the inauguration of President Gustavo Petro, cessation of military hostilities for the commitment of a Colombia in peace and national reconciliation and in favor of a negotiation with the government; We join the commitment made by the guerrillas and the Clan del Golfo to cease military operations. We know that this government is going to guarantee us the fulfillment of our rights, not like the outgoing government in search of results dedicated itself to looking for our members in order to assassinate them without guaranteeing their capture with due process as established by law. . Mr. President Gustavo Petro from this moment we remain available to sit down to sign total peace,” they indicated from the war front.

Los Rastrojos is a Colombian criminal group with influence in Norte de Santander, the border department between Colombia and Venezuela. While they were once considered to be the largest criminal organization in Colombia, they are now a small group with a limited territorial presence.

The group emerged out of the once powerful Cartel Norte del Valle as one of its armed wings. Los Rastrojos held power over large territories of Colombia until their main leaders all either surrendered or were captured. The group has since managed to remain in power in a small border area, while larger criminal organizations seek to expel them from the territory once and for all.

The National Liberation Army is a true guerilla group that has increased its trafficking, kidnapping, and extortion activities to fund itself.

ELN

There are some lights on the possible negotiation with the National Liberation Army -ELN- in the Government of the Historical Pact. Gustavo Petro, weeks before his inauguration, indicated that there is already a place to start talks with the ELN, in which the talks between former President Santos and the FARC took place: Havana.

“Cuba did not do so well because then they took it as an excuse for a diplomatic offensive against that country. We have spoken with the Cuban ambassador present here for the restart of the suspended diplomatic protocol, which allows the continuity of the ELN dialogues in that country. The Cuban government will be the one to decide if it wants to remain as host, and the Norwegian government will decide if it wants to maintain its role as guarantor, which it was, that can be opened up to other countries, Spain has expressed provisions around helping in the peace process Colombia and now in the Republic of Chile and undoubtedly all of Latin America because in the end achieving success in substantially reducing violence in Colombia, which today is increasingly complex, is also an American success,” Gustavo Petro explained extensively.

The ELN is the last real guerrilla force in Latin America and has transitioned into a real transnational threat in Colombia and Venezuela. Initially a Marxist-Leninist nationalist movement, it now appears more focused on kidnapping, extortion, and attacks on economic infrastructure. And while it eschewed drug trafficking for decades, it has recently been linked to the narcotics trade and has sought alliances with large drug trafficking organizations.

President Gustavo Petro is a former M-19 guerilla.

Path to Peace Proposed by Petro

Gustavo Petro made it clear that it is necessary to propose a policy of pacification, indicating in the same way that it is a difficult but necessary path since it offers another scenario, another way of understanding and overcoming drug trafficking:

“The path is to propose a policy of pacification head-on, it is difficult, but it must be proposed because it means seeing in a different way. It is another way of understanding drug trafficking and it is another way of overcoming drug trafficking. From here I tell you to suspend death, the path is life, ”Gustavo Petro declared and sent a forceful message to the Clan del Golfo.

A few weeks ago, the current president of Colombia was asked if he would initiate negotiations with the GAO Clan del Golfo. He stated that there is no rapprochement with the Organized Armed Group and explained that the contact must be judicial, not through the authorities. of the national government, because this would not be appropriate, since it is not a political negotiation.

“It is justice that has to connect the possibility of submitting to dignified justice. Dignity has to do with the truth, it has to do with reparation for the victims, it has to do with the areas of action being prosperous, and it has to do with the existence of even the possibilities of legal benefits as long as there is no repetition, that there be compensation for the victims,” Petro emphasized.

Petro's Speech in the Fight Against Drugs

In his inaugural speech, Gustavo Petro referred to the fight against drugs, explaining that the war against drugs has failed, weakening the States and strengthening the mafias:

“Peace is possible if you change, for example, the policy against drugs, for example, seen as a war for a policy of strong prevention of consumption in developed societies. It is time for a new International Convention that accepts that the war against drugs has failed, that it has left a million Latin Americans murdered during these 40 years, and that it leaves 70,000 North Americans [100,000] dead by overdoses yearly. That the war on drugs strengthened the mafias and weakened the States. That the war on drugs has led the States to commit crimes and has evaporated the horizon of democracy,” he declared from the Plaza de Bolívar.

The recent history of Colombia has been marked by drug trafficking, even certain cracks in the state permeated by the criminal and criminal structure have been glimpsed, there are even those who speak and attribute the category of Narco-state to Colombia. 

The arrival of the Government of Gustavo Petro implies that the contradictions and relations between the establishment and the Organized Armed Groups dedicated to Drug Trafficking deepen for this reason and in this scenario, it is important for the illegal groups to make decisions at a moment that allows them a submission to justice under certain premises and guarantees that can be provided by the incoming government.

He specified that in the binding regional dialogues he summons all unarmed people to find the paths of the territory that allow coexistence. “It doesn't matter what conflicts there are. It is precisely about evidencing them through the word, of trying their solutions through reason. It is more democracy, more participation that I propose to end the violence”, he noted.

Given this, he said that he calls on the armed forces to lay down their weapons in the shadows of the past and to accept legal benefits in exchange for peace, in exchange for the definitive non-repetition of violence, and to work as owners of a prosperous but legal economy that put an end to the backwardness of the regions.

"For peace to be possible in Colombia, we need to dialogue, dialogue a lot, understand each other, seek common paths, produce changes," he added. He argued that peace is possible if, for example, the policy against drugs is changed, since it is seen as a war for a policy of strong consumption prevention in developed societies.

Sources Infobae, Infobae, Borderland Beat, Infobae, InSight Crime, InSight Crime, InSight Crime, El Universo