Beware of terrorist threats

A week ago, the Attorney General’s Office sent an early warning to the Barranquilla Municipal Police Department about the recent creation of the “Martin Caballero” urban front in the city by FARC dissidents, which constitutes a wake-up call that should not be underestimated by the district authorities or departments under any circumstances.

The Herald revealed that the safety of the residents of Barranquilla was initially seriously threatened or in imminent danger due to an increased risk situation. This is the first and undoubtedly the most worrying thing, and it should be evaluated to plan a relevant and timely institutional response that ensures the protection of citizens, as long as it combines the actions of the national security forces and territorial entities. To be honest, given the seriousness of the case, it should have been implemented as soon as the information from the Public Prosecutor’s Office was received. In this sense, the commander of the Metropolitan Police assured us that they have launched a plan of “preventive activities”.

This would be the minimum. The investigations of the Public Prosecutor’s Office clearly warn of the “terrorist forecasts” of the Central General Staff (EMC), the main and most numerous FARC dissident group in the country. Their monitoring of the 41st Front, E33 and Bernardo Jaramillo Mobile Columns stationed in the Caribbean indicates that new illegal armed structures of an urban nature will receive orders to carry out terrorist attacks in the southern Caribbean. “The use of explosive devices against station facilities and police personnel in the communities of Carrizal-Ciudadela, Simón Bolívar and La Victoria”.

Terrorist threats were also directed against Army installations in the city, and as if that wasn’t enough, gun plans were also expected to “attack the physical safety of uniformed police officers in Barranquilla and Soledad.” Conclusion: We are in danger, stay alert.

In case anyone is wondering, this faction of FARC dissidents, the Central General Staff, is an extremely heterogeneous group both in composition and functioning, and it is the same group that is conducting peace negotiations with the central government. More precisely, the newly created group in Barranquilla, “Martín Caballero” (commanded by the alias Aldemar Ríos), will not be under the command of “Iván Mordisco”, who has just left the dialogue table. This is not the case, because according to information gathered by the Prosecutor’s Office, the escalation of terrorism in the city will be triggered by the final breakdown of the bilateral ceasefire agreed by the two parties in October and valid until July 15 of the previous year.

It seems that in its strategy of growth, expansion and consolidation, strengthening its military, political and economic capabilities, the EMC is negotiating peace while preparing for war by increasing dissidents, that is, those who did not sign the 2016 peace agreement; repeat offenders, those who supported or signed the agreement and returned to the conflict, as well as new recruits. They will not be the first, nor the last, so the government must calculate its steps according to the changes in the environment and the changes in public power, so as not to make mistakes again or give more space to its own interlocutors who are good at using the tools of dialogue.

In addition to the foreseeable demands for political responsibility, some parts of the country are experiencing a serious change in public order, almost a déjà vu of the darkest periods of our history, the product of unbridled criminality, especially by dissidents, the Barranquilla Public Prosecutor’s Office demands that it act with a sense of reality and coherence. It is imperative to clearly measure the current threat. Whatever they say, terrorism cannot be compared to security crises, no matter how suffocating and unbearable these may be.

The worst thing for us now is that those who must unite closely to fight terrorism stand aside, either deciding on their own or following the orders of their superiors, while such a monster with a thousand heads hiding in the shadows grows stronger, he seeks allies, he places himself in a strategic position, waiting to destabilize, strike or kill at a time, way or place that only he decides. Or should we allow the beast to strike, to keep us in fear and, by the way, also to leave us at large, as happened in 2018 after the ELN attack on the San Jose station? Be careful, history shows that inaction comes at a high price.