Deaths of child recruits will not halt bombing of illegal armed groups, Colombia says

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By Luis Jaime Acosta

BOGOTA (Reuters) -Colombia’s military will continue carrying out bombing operations to curb the expansion of illegal armed groups, despite the recent deaths of at least 12 children and teenagers in three airstrikes against a FARC dissident group, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday.

Human rights ombudsman Iris Marin this week urged President Gustavo Petro to suspend bombings following recent airstrikes in the provinces of Amazonas, Guaviare and Arauca. The president apologized to the mothers of seven minors killed in one of the attacks.

The bombings mark a shift in Petro’s security strategy. He halted them when he took office in 2022, reinstating them last year on the condition they did not cause casualties among children and teenagers recruited by guerrillas and criminal gangs. 

“The use of all legitimate capabilities of the state, including bombings, will continue,” Sanchez, a retired general in the Colombian Aerospace Force, told Reuters. “A legitimate target was attacked, with entirely legal means, in accordance with the constitution and the law.”

Sanchez said illegal armed groups bear primary responsibility for the deaths of minors because they recruit them. “We did not attack minors. The attack was a completely legitimate objective,” he said.

Petro, who vowed to end the six-decade-long armed conflict that has left more than 450,000 dead, changed his security tact last year after limited progress in talks with armed groups. He ordered a military offensive in the southwest to dislodge a FARC dissident faction that rejected a 2016 peace agreement, though the strategy has not achieved the expected results.

Illegal armed groups, primarily dissident factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), recruit children — mostly by force — and use them to deter military attacks and protect their leaders and camps, according to human rights organizations.

DISSIDENTS THREATEN ‘REVOLUTIONARY TRIAL’

At least 625 children and adolescents were recruited during 2024, while 162 cases were registered between January and October of this year, according to the Ombudsman’s Office. 

The top leader of FARC dissidents affected by the bombings, known as Ivan Mordisco, threatened to subject those responsible for the air attacks on his troops to a “revolutionary trial.”

A revolutionary trial is an illegal process in which guerrillas accuse someone of a crime, potentially imposing a death sentence, a practice prohibited by law and one that could empower criminals, Sanchez said.

Air strikes have historically been an important tool for Colombia. The FARC entered talks that led to the 2016 peace deal and the demobilization of 13,000 fighters after several top commanders were killed in bombings.

The recent 3.1 billion euro ($3.57 billion) agreement with Sweden’s Saab for the purchase of 17 Gripen E/F fighter jets to replace the aging fleet of Israeli Kfir aircraft acquired in the 1980s was reached after a transparent process, Sanchez said.

Some opposition political leaders and military experts denounced a possible cost overrun in the deal.

The minister said military cooperation with the United States is “very strong” and that intelligence sharing continues in an effort to combat drug trafficking, on the condition that it is not used for lethal attacks on vessels allegedly involved in narcotics running.

Bombing of suspected drug-running vessels has sparked a war of words between Petro and U.S. President Donald Trump, prompting the Colombian leader last week to threaten to cancel intelligence sharing.

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(Reporting by Luis Jaime AcostaEditing by Bill Berkrot)