FARC dissidents seek to unify in Colombia, FFAA say they will prevent it

BOGOTÁ (Reuters) – Dissent The FARC, who rejected the peace agreement, have l & rsquo; Intend to unify and, although they pose a threat to the security of Colombia, the military offensive against them will prevent them from achieving this goal, said Monday senior security officials. Currently, 29 dissenting structures of the demobilized guerrilla group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) total 1,200 fighters dispersed in various parts of the country, with no command and control over all members, said Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas

"Are there persistent threats in Colombia? Yes, are they in specific territories? Also, but there is a group that today is able to defeat the 39, existence and functioning of the democratic state, this is not the case, "he said, revealing that up to this year and in full military offensive, 67 dissident fighters died and 390 were captured.

In addition to FARC dissent, the military forces and the National Police confront the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army and three criminal gangs called the Gulf Clan, Los Pelusos and Los Puntilleros. All of these illegal armed groups total more than 4,500 combatants.

For his part, the commander of the armed forces, General Alberto José Mejía, said that operations were underway to prevent dissidents from forming into one organization. they have no political ideology, unlike the FARC demobilized guerrillas.

"Colombia, with its sad experience of more than 53 years of war, should not be afraid that all these groups have macabre intentions and plans," says Mejía. "These threats will not occur, these threats persist unfortunately in the drug trafficking that has been and is today the cancer of Colombia."

The signing of the peace agreement – negotiated for about four years in Cuba between the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC have helped reduce the violence of the largest armed conflict in Latin America , which killed 220,000 people and displaced millions.

Some 13,000 FARC members, including 7,000 combatants, were demobilized. They surrendered their weapons to the United Nations in accordance with the peace agreement that provided for the formation of a political party. Dissidents fight with ELN and criminal gangs for the control of areas expelled by the FARC, strategic for drug trafficking

(Report by Luis Jaime Acosta, edited by Ricardo Figueroa)