Colombia Finds FARC Terrorists Armed with Venezuelan Military Weapons

Colombian Army officials found weapons belonging to Venezuela’s National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) in a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Marxist terrorist group, local outlets reported on Thursday.

Colombian officials found Venezuelan firearms at the end of a 14-day operation against a FARC group known as the “Amazon Bloc” in the municipality of Mapiripán, located in the central region of Meta. According to Noticias RCN, the officials seized 13 rifles, a 7.62 mm machine gun, a grenade launcher, five handguns, and “abundant ammunition and war material” — some of which bore the markings of Venezuela’s Armed Forces, eliciting concern and alerts among local authorities.

Meta governor Rafaela Cortés stressed that the authorities will be doing everything in their power to clarify the situation. Meta’s Secretary General Andrea Lizcano told reporters that any possible foreign interference will have to be analyzed by international courts.

“We hope that countries do not intervene in the internal armed conflicts of others. We have an internal armed conflict, where any foreign interference will have to be analyzed by international courts,” Lizcano said.

The Colombian defense minister announced on Thursday that the operation concluded with the capture of the Amazon Bloc’s leader and two of its members. Additionally, an unidentified minor held by the Marxist guerrilla was rescued. The Ministry said that one unidentified person was killed during the military operation.

FARC claims that it “abandoned terrorism” and demobilized after the Marxist terrorist group signed a “peace deal” with then-President Juan Manuel Santos in November 2016. The peace deal granted legal immunity to FARC’s leadership, uncontested congressional seats, and other benefits. Former President Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the agreement. However, FARC continues to carry out its over six decades-long narco-terrorism activities throughout Colombian territory.

Since then, both the Colombian government and mainstream media claim that the active FARC forces are “dissidents” and that the “true” FARC is the leadership in Bogotá. Reports published in April denounced that FARC was using the Chinese social media platform TikTok to recruit minors into its ranks and bolster its numbers.

Numerous reports published throughout the years have detailed that FARC maintains deep ties with Venezuela’s socialist regime — both the “true” and “dissident” halves of the terrorist organization. Experts have accused Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro of using FARC’s presence as an “instrument of power,” participating in drug trafficking so as to destabilize Colombia.

In 2019, former Colombian President Iván Duque accused Maduro of having ties to FARC at a time when FARC forces announced a return to arms.

“Colombians must be clear that we are not facing the birth of a new guerrilla group, but rather the criminal threats of a gang of narco-terrorists who have the shelter and support of the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro,” Duque said at the time.

The Colombian military operation that led to the discovery of Venezuelan firearms in FARC’s possession occurred amid an ongoing violent conflict between FARC’s “33rd Front” and the National Liberation Army (ELN), another Marxist terrorist group.

The conflict arose after the ELN broke its tacit “non-aggression agreement” with the 33rd Front that saw both groups establish limits on their respective areas of influence and illicit activities in the Colombian region of Catatumbo.

As of last week, the violent conflict left anywhere between 60 to 80 dead and more than 40,000 displaced individuals. On Monday, Colombian authorities discovered the remains of 13 assassinated individuals —  three of which were children. The leader of FARC’s 33rd Front, a man who goes by the alias “JJ Guaracas” reportedly turned himself in to the authorities alongside four other FARC members this week and requested state protection under grounds that he does not want ELN to kill him.

Far-left President Gustavo Petro announced on Friday morning that Venezuela’s Bolivarian Armed Forces will collaborate with Colombia in a joint military operation against ELN in the shared Colombian-Venezuelan border. According to dictator Nicolás Maduro, the joint operation, titled Catatumbo Lightning, will span the entire border between both nations.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.