The Central General Staff (EMC), the largest dissident group of the former FARC guerrilla, announced this Sunday a ceasefire against the public force for the Christmas and New Year festivities, so that Colombian families can spend these dates in peace. "We have ordered our units across the country to suspend offensive military operations against the public force from December 23, 2025, to January 7, 2026, with the aim that Colombian families can share without the fears of an armed confrontation," that dissident group reported in a statement. The announcement comes on the same day that the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group announced a unilateral ceasefire that will begin at midnight on December 24 and extend until the same hour on January 3, 2026. The People's Defender, Iris Marín, reacted to the ELN's announcement with "certain relief, but also with anguish," warning that despite invoking respect for the civilian population, the recent actions of armed groups have caused damage to communities in several regions of the country. Marín asked that these gestures translate into concrete facts, such as the release of kidnapped people and a real reduction in armed confrontations, and recalled that similar ceasefires announced in the past did not prevent new violence, including mass displacements and generalized fear in areas like Catatumbo (northeast). A few hours ago, the 33rd Front of the Block and Front General Staff (EMBF), another FARC dissident operating in Catatumbo, announced, through a video disseminated by local media and whose authenticity could not be verified, another indefinite suspension of offensive actions against the public force. Intensification of guerrilla attacks These announcements coincide with the persistent humanitarian crisis in several regions of the country, particularly in Catatumbo, where since January of this year, clashes between the ELN and the 33rd Front of the EMBF have intensified, leaving nearly a hundred dead and causing mass displacements, confinement, and other impacts on rural communities. The EMC is led by Néstor Gregorio Vera, alias 'Iván Mordisco', the most wanted man in the country, for whom the government offers a millionaire reward and who is not currently participating in peace negotiations with the government of President Gustavo Petro. In contrast, the Executive maintains conversations with other dissident organizations, including the EMBF, with which it reached last November agreements not to recruit minors, promote access to land, and protect the environment, within the framework of President Petro's 'Total Peace' policy. Both the EMC and the ELN have perpetrated violent attacks in recent days against the Police and the Army in the departments of Cauca (southwest) and Cesar (northeast). In Buenos Aires (Cauca), an EMC takeover that lasted more than seven hours left eight police officers injured and several buildings in that town destroyed, while in Aguachica (Cesar), the ELN killed seven soldiers and left 31 more injured in a drone attack against an Army base.
