The most wanted leader of an armed group in Colombia, known as Ivan Mordisco, has threatened in a video to disrupt the holding of presidential elections scheduled for 2026, due to attacks against his armed group ordered by President Gustavo Petro, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
Under pressure from the US, which demands more decisive action against drug trafficking, the Colombian president has intensified his offensive against armed groups. The strikes killed at least 28 people last week, including minors.
Iván Mordisco, a fugitive and leader of a dissident faction of the former FARC guerrilla group, described the bombings as a "declaration of war" by Petro.
Weakened and surrounded by two armed men in jungle uniforms, he warned of consequences for next year's elections, which will elect the successor to the country's first leftist leader in power.
"We wanted the electoral process in 2026 to proceed with as little turmoil as possible", he said, stressing that "we now have no choice but to take a stand in defense of the territories".
The president himself and the authorities have acknowledged that at least 15 minors have died in four attacks since August, sparking outrage in the country. Petro, for his part, stressed in "Ex" that the minors were victims of forced recruitment to participate in combat operations - a serious violation of human rights.
The government is offering a reward of one million dollars for Mordisco, whose dissident faction rejects the 2016 peace agreement that led to the disarmament of the former FARC. It controls cocaine production in several regions of the country and regularly organizes deadly bombings.
The road to the 2026 elections has already been marked by the assassination of opposition senator Miguel Uribe, who died in August after a two-month stay in hospital. The president believes that a group of drug traffickers and leaders of armed groups, including Ivan Mordisco, were behind the murder.