Peru is fighting Colombian armed groups in the border area

Peruvian law enforcement agencies are working to monitor, suppress and disband dissident Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) groups located in the Peruvian border area.

This was stated by the Peruvian Navy Admiral Jorge Moscoso Flores, former chief of the Joint Command of the Peruvian Armed Forces, in an interview on December 18, 2022.

In November, Peru’s La República newspaper reported that FARC dissidents were crossing borders into Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to carry out drug trafficking along the Putumayo River. According to the newspaper, the criminals are members of the border commandos and the Carolina Ramírez Front.

The Putumayo is a long river in the Amazon region that rises in Colombia and empties into the Amazon in Brazil. Along its course, the river forms a natural border separating Colombia from Ecuador and then Peru. As such, the Putumayo is a strategic point for drug trafficking as it is part of the geography of four countries.

According to La República, FARC dissidents are entering Peru for a long period of time to promote the cultivation of coca leaves and the production of cocaine paste and cocaine hydrochloride, which is then sold to international organizations.

“These criminal groups operate in areas of Putumayo and are mainly dedicated to illegal drug trafficking, capturing the residents and taking advantage of the conditions of extreme poverty of these places,” said Admiral Moscoso, adding that other crimes such as extortion by ranchers, traders, drivers and farmers, and the forced recruitment of minors.

On November 29, Colombian Justice Minister Néstor Osuna said that joint action at international level will help stop the coca trade in areas like Putumayo. “We will work with Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela and Panama. Drug trafficking is a multi-criminal problem and requires an international criminal process. International cooperation is essential,” he confirmed to the Peruvian newspaper El País.

For Pedro Yaranga, a Peruvian security and drug trafficking expert, the FARC dissident groups use various locations in Putumayo as their centers of operations. “Their main activity is drug trafficking, and the vegetation of the area and the poverty and lack of work in the area favor them”.

According to Ricardo Soberón, Executive Director of Peru’s National Commission for Development and Drug Free Life (DEVIDA), the Putumayo region is experiencing a surge in coca leaf production that is difficult to combat due to the high cost.

For his part, Yaranga explained that the Peruvian armed forces are working with their counterparts in Ecuador and Colombia to exchange information on the movements of dissidents from the FARC. “Monitoring these groups allows us to know if there are larger numbers of people in these organizations, what kind of weapons they mobilize with, how many wives and children they have and what their economic activities are,” he said.

Yaranga also pointed out that the Peru-Colombia border faces various threats: drug, arms and human trafficking, illegal mining, illegal logging, smuggling, money laundering and contract killings, to name a few.

“Particularly in the Putumayo region, there are indications of the presence of paramilitary groups, other violent groups and also criminal groups from Brazil,” Yaranga added.

“Some cocaine hydrochloride cultivation areas and processing plants run by Colombians are located on Peruvian territory,” Yaranga said, noting that the armed groups have expanded their operations by opening up cultivation areas, recruiting young people for cultivation, capturing informants, to maintain control of the area and instilled fear and mistrust in the communities. “One form of recruitment by Colombian guerrillas is to provide money or collateral to the parents of youths who are trafficked to grow coca.”

According to Admiral Moscoso, the heads of the joint commands of the armed forces of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are closely monitoring the situation in Putumayo and meeting regularly to assess regional security and defense issues. “The fight against drug trafficking, terrorism, transnational organized crime and illegal mining is a priority.”

In conclusion, Moscoso explained that the information collected allows the authorities to detect and trace movements of Colombian armed groups in Putumayo and establish military strategies to counter and contain their operations. “We are in a patient intelligence-gathering process led by officers who know the field and are experts in dealing with narco-terrorism.”

With information from latinapress