Colombia dispatched 1400 soldiers! Armed conflict broke out in Cauca Province

According to Colombian media reports, on October 11 local time, the Colombian government peace negotiation delegation and the former largest rebel "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia" branch "Karaca" held the sixth round of peace talks in the capital Bogota.

On October 16, the Colombian government peace negotiation delegation announced that it had extended the ceasefire agreement with Karaca, the former largest rebel arm of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, for a period of six months until April 15, 2025.

It is understood that the "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia" has many branches and "Caraca" is currently the only rebel to negotiate with the government, so there are still many security issues in Colombia. In particular, the "Central staff" suspended peace talks with the Colombian government in November last year, and armed conflicts have broken out with government forces ever since.

Until recently, the "Central staff" was split into eastern and western factions, and the eastern factions continued to hold peace talks with the government, but the western factions operated in Cauca and Cauca Valley provinces and were reluctant to negotiate with the government. Therefore, on 12 October, Colombian President Petro authorized a full-scale crackdown on the western faction of the Central staff, a branch of the former rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

In this operation, the Colombian military dispatched more than 1400 soldiers and deployed heavy equipment such as fighter planes, tanks and artillery. A raid was carried out in a village in the southwestern province of Cauca, which is not only the main stronghold of the western faction of the Central staff headquarters, but also an important hub for the organization to engage in drug trafficking activities. According to the Colombian president, the western faction of the "Central staff" recently used grenades and drones to attack security forces and civilians, injuring at least 17 people, and the Colombian military will fight back "reciprocally".

It is reported that recently, serious conflicts between Colombian government forces and rebel groups have been breaking out in the southwestern province of Cauca, affecting the security and economic development of the region. It is said that in September, a large area of mountain fires broke out as a result of clashes in the area, all because of the mountainous forests in the area, where most of the rebels were hiding in the mountains, and the two sides exchanged fire violently.

Due to the threat of dry and dry weather throughout South America during this period, coupled with the fact that Colombia is in the autumn, strong winds and dry climate have accelerated the spread of the fire, and mountain forests are mainly, making it difficult for consumer army vehicles to enter, and the fire fighting work is very difficult, resulting in the burning of large tracts of land and mountain forests, damage to a large number of crops such as coffee, and affecting the surrounding water sources.

In addition to Cauca, fires are also caused by hot and dry weather in other parts of Colombia. According to an earlier report released by Colombia's National disaster risk Management Department, at least 12 forest fires are still burning and five areas are on alert.

In the past, a recorded forest fire has destroyed more than 44000 hectares of forests, pastures and crops. The areas most affected by forest fires are mainly in western Colombia, including Huilan, Cauca, Nari ñ o, Cauca Valley and Tolima, which are major coffee producing areas and have previously experienced high temperatures of more than 41 ℃. It was not until early October, when there was rain in many parts of Colombia, that the situation eased.

At present, for the Colombian coffee industry, the coffee industry in Colombia has been severely hit by extreme weather such as drought and fire, resulting in a decline in coffee production. According to the latest data, Colombia produced 1.05 million bags of coffee in August, nearly 100000 bags less than in previous months, resulting in a reduction in the amount of coffee available for export.

However, FNC, Colombia's national coffee growers' union, said that after three consecutive years of reduced production caused by La Nina weather, Colombia is now working to recover, with coffee production increasing by 15 per cent compared with last year, so regional peace and security and restoration of development is one of the key issues that the government needs to address.

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