Colombia’s Guaviare Air Strike Kills 11 in Camp Tied to Calarcá
Colombia · SECURITY
Key Facts
- —Operation Operation Amón hit a camp in rural El Retorno, Guaviare, on 27 August 2026.
- —Toll The government raised the confirmed death count from eight to 11 within hours.
- —Aircraft Five Kfir jets and six A-29 Super Tucano planes flew the Guaviare air strike.
- —Materiel Troops seized 11 rifles and five machine guns and captured two people.
- —Reward Bogotá had offered up to 400 million pesos (US$127,000) for the dead commander.
Operation Amón hit a camp of the Jorge Suárez Briceño Bloc in El Retorno municipality.
Colombia’s Aerospace Force bombed a guerrilla camp in rural El Retorno, Guaviare, in the early hours of 27 August 2026. The Guaviare air strike killed 11 people, the government says, among them a commander close to alias Calarcá.
What happened in El Retorno
The Colombian Aerospace Force, in Spanish the Fuerza Aeroespacial Colombiana, flew the mission overnight. Eleven aircraft took part, five Kfir jets and six A-29 Super Tucano ground-attack planes.
The aircraft flew from the Apiay air base in Meta department, according to the magazine Cambio. They dropped more than six bombs on the camp before troops landed nearby.
The Joint Special Operations Command, or Comando Conjunto de Operaciones Especiales, ran the ground phase. Soldiers moved in to secure the site once the bombing had stopped.
President Abelardo de la Espriella announced the Guaviare air strike on 27 August. He said the force had struck camps used by the Jorge Suárez Briceño Bloc.
The death toll and what remains open
The first official count gave eight dead, two captured and four wounded. Within hours the government raised the confirmed number of dead to 11.
The bodies were sent to the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. Identification of the dead had not been completed when this account was written.
The armed forces reported 11 rifles and five machine guns recovered at the camp. An Army helicopter was hit during the troop landing, with no casualties reported.
No authority has reported minors among the dead in the Guaviare air strike. No independent body had published a rival count either, so the official figure stands alone.
The commander named among the dead
Authorities identified one of the dead as Juan Antonio Agudelo Salazar, alias Urías Perdomo. He also used the alias Cotíz, according to Ministry of Defence reward notices.
He led the Rodrigo Cadete structure and was described as the right hand of alias Calarcá. Prosecution sources confirmed his death to Colombian media on 27 August.
The Ministry of Defence had offered up to 400 million pesos for information leading to his capture. That equals about US$127,000 at the market representative rate, or TRM, of 3,144.28 pesos on 28 August 2026.
A 2025 wanted list carried a lower figure of 200 million pesos (US$63,600) for the same man. Authorities in Caquetá department had added a further 100 million pesos (US$31,800).
The peace manager claim
Agudelo was detained on 23 July 2024 in Anorí, Antioquia, inside a convoy of state vehicles. The cars belonged to the National Protection Unit, the UNP, which guards threatened public figures.
He was released and later named a gestor de paz, or peace manager, under President Gustavo Petro. Several Colombian outlets report that the step suspended his arrest warrants.
No decree or resolution naming him as a peace manager has been made public. That part of the record is therefore unconfirmed, although national outlets report it consistently.
Official accounts say he returned to armed activity after his release, including recruitment and kidnapping. Those allegations rest on state sources and have not been tested in court.
Calarcá and the structure that was hit
Alias Calarcá is Alexander Díaz Mendoza, among the best known commanders of the FARC dissidents. FARC stands for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the guerrilla group that signed a 2016 peace deal.
He commands the Jorge Suárez Briceño Bloc and the wider Estado Mayor de los Bloques y Frentes. That name translates as the General Staff of Blocs and Fronts.
His faction joined talks that opened in October 2023 under Petro’s total peace policy. The process split in April 2024 after a partial ceasefire suspension in the south.
A judge declared Calarcá an absent person in 2026, letting prosecutors charge him in his absence. On 14 August 2026 the new government reactivated arrest warrants against more than 30 leaders.
The rules that govern a strike like this
Colombian forces plan bombings under international humanitarian law, usually shortened to IHL. Four principles apply: distinction, proportionality, precaution and military necessity.
The Ministry of Defence said the Guaviare air strike was planned and executed under those rules. It cited distinction, proportionality, precaution and humanity, with emphasis on protecting civilians.
Recruited children are never lawful targets under Additional Protocol II of the Geneva Conventions. Their protection lapses only while they take a direct part in hostilities.
The military and police prosecution service can open a preliminary inquiry after such an operation. It did so after a November 2025 bombing in Guaviare, examining possible excessive use of force.
The question of minors in the camps
Child recruitment makes these operations legally fraught in Colombia, and the record is contested. Iris Marín, the national ombudsman, has asked governments to suspend bombings where recruited children may be present.
Her office is the Defensoría del Pueblo, which monitors rights violations and reports to Congress. On 6 July 2026 she said prevention cannot be achieved by armed action alone.
In November 2025 Colombia told the United Nations that seven recruited minors died in a Guaviare bombing. The forensic institute later counted 65 minors killed in bombings during Petro’s term.
The Ministry of Defence disputed that figure, saying it covered military operations broadly, not only bombings. No such dispute has arisen over the Guaviare air strike, where no minors have been reported.
Reactions and the wider record
Former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez welcomed the operation on 27 August. He wrote that Colombia should never again retreat in its fight against terrorism.
Andrés Julián Rendón, governor of Antioquia, said on 27 August that Calarcá’s hours were numbered. Luis Francisco Ruiz, governor of Caquetá, said the dead man was now out of circulation.
The Defensoría reported civilian harm after an earlier strike in Catatumbo on 10 and 11 August. The Ministry of Defence denied that any civilians were affected in that case.
This was the second bombing ordered since De la Espriella took office on 7 August 2026. El Colombiano counted 25 bombings and 101 confirmed deaths under Petro between July 2024 and July 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where and when did the operation take place?
The Guaviare air strike hit a camp in the rural area of El Retorno municipality, Guaviare department. It began in the early hours of 27 August 2026.
Who was Urías Perdomo?
Authorities name him as Juan Antonio Agudelo Salazar, leader of the Rodrigo Cadete structure. He was described as the right hand of alias Calarcá and carried a 400 million peso (US$127,000) reward.
Were any minors among the dead?
No authority has reported minors among the dead in the Guaviare air strike. Forensic identification was still under way, so the point remains open for now.
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