Four Colombian army soldiers were killed in fights with FARC dissidents two days before a meeting between the rebel group and the government to consolidate peace talks, the Colombian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.
The soldiers were killed “in fighting against a residual armed group,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to the name used by authorities for armed groups that did not accept a 2016 peace agreement.
The Estado Mayor Central (EMC), a dissident group of Colombia’s disbanded FARC guerrillas, rejected the 2016 deal, but said in April it was ready to begin negotiations with the government.
The EMC is due to begin a three-day meeting today with the government to decide on a date for future peace talks, and to formalize a bilateral ceasefire, Bogota said on Saturday morning, hours before the four soldiers were killed.
The attack took place in the southwestern rural region of Narino, on the border with Ecuador, which is home to a large portion of the coca crops in Colombia, the world’s biggest cocaine producer, according to the UN.
Coca cultivation is illegal, but a mainstay for many in the South American country of 50 million people.
Much of the sector is controlled by armed groups, including leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries or drug cartels.
Gustavo Petro, the first leftist president in Colombia’s history, has sought to defuse the country’s more than six-decade conflict through agreements with the various armed groups.
At midnight on Dec. 31 last year, Petro announced a bilateral truce with the five main guerrilla groups, but suspended the deal with the EMC in May, after the rebels murdered four young indigenous men who resisted recruitment.
The EU, Norway, Switzerland, and Ireland, as well as the Catholic Church, support Petro’s peace process.
Experts have questioned the unity of command in the EMC, which is led by ex-FARC veterans, but with new recruits among its ranks.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed