By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombia’s President, Juan Manuel Santos, has ordered the resumption of bombing raids against Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels after an attack he blamed on the group killed Colombian 10 soldiers. The move, which broke a fragile truce between FARC and the Colombian government will likely intensify combat in the region. The Colombian government halted bombing raids targeting FARC as part of peace talks between the two parties in recognition of a unilateral ceasefire declared in December by the FARC insurgents.

According to Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti said of the FARC attack against Colombian troops that “this is the deadliest attack since they announced the unilateral indefinite ceasefire back in December. And comes just a few days since the Colombian government announced the extension of the suspension of the air raids over FARC camps.” He added that at the present movement, it is not clear what the effects of these attacks will have on ongoing peace talks between FARC and the Colombian Government. FARC negotiators in Cuba committed to the unilateral ceasefire to promote peace talks that have taken place in Cuba over the past two years. FARC negotiators claimed the insurgents would only fire their weapons if they were first attacked by the armed forces. However, it is unclear how much control FARC rebel leaders in Havana really have over the more than 7,000 fighters participating in the FARC insurgency.

Ten Colombian soldiers were reportedly killed in the rural southwestern Cauca province in the early hours of Wednesday when the FARC launched an ambush against the troops, throwing grenades and firing on them as they sheltered in a covered sports pitch, the Colombian army said. “This incident was a product of a deliberate attack by the FARC, it was not a coincidence and this implies a clear rupture of the promise of a unilateral ceasefire,” President Santos said, after meeting with his Administration’s defense team in the city of Cali. “I have ordered the armed forces to lift the suspension of bombings on FARC camps.”

FARC is the largest rebel organization in Colombia, a nation that has been a haven to illegal drug and human traffickers for several decades. The organization was founded 1964 with the stated aim of installing a Marxist regime in the South American state. In five decades of conflict more than 220,000 people are estimated to have been killed. While the FARC movement claims its motives are to establish a Marxist regime, a regime that in theory would focus on the rights of workers, the paramilitary organization has targeted trade unions, even assassinating their leaders, for several decades leading to the degradation of the Labor movement in a countries who’s labor unions were once the among the strongest in Latin America.  Colombia has experienced the highest number of assignations of trade union leaders and labor activists of any country in the world. FARC is listed as a terrorist organization by both the United States and Europe.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Colombia to Resume Bombing of FARC Targets – 16 April 16, 2015

BBC News – Colombia Lifts Bombing Truce after FARC Attack in Cauca – 16 April 2015

CNN International – Colombia Renews Bombing Raids on FARC After Rebels Kill 10 Soldiers – 15 April 2015

Reuters – Ten Colombian Soldiers Killed In Attack Blamed On FARC Rebels – 15 April 2015