Drug-run guerrillas drove away military efforts to recapture a piece of Southwestern Colombia – a virtual microlattice dominated by rifles.
There is no guerrilla rhetoric, no one enters or leaves, the state-issued ID is worthless, and the production of cocaine is not only tolerated, but encouraged.
Welcome to Mikeja Canyon, a lush mountain valley in southwestern Columbia, and the law is called the Mayor of Estado Central (Central General Staff).
On the dirt road leading to the valley, the rifle-waving rebels – some camouflage, some wearing civilian clothes – stopped every bicycle, car or truck trying to enter.
The men at the checkpoint require viewing of the rebel-issued ID card, which must be updated annually and serve as an entry permit.
Outsiders are rarely allowed to enter. But once through the barricade, Michelle is trapped in a state.
Residents pay $17 per year for ambulance care services. The miners paid illegal profits to the local committees. Sex workers must undergo rebel-regulated health checks.
There is no policeman to see, and there is no evidence of government-run schools, hospitals or municipal services.
In October, Colombian President Gustavo Petro launched Operation Persius to regain control of the region and occupy EMC leaders.
Their control of Michelle has become a direct challenge to the nation’s precedence, a symbol of peace brought about by Petro’s failed commitments and a security threat to the UN climate summit in nearby Cali.
But the Persius operation suffered a series of humiliation and fatal setbacks.
AFP reporters in EMC territory witnessed 28 arrested police officers, a soldier driven out of the territory for abuse on Saturday.
“Go out!” a angry mob shouted as the captive bowed.
Among them is Army Major Nilson Bedoya.
“I’m thinking of my family, my wife, son Nicholas. They’re waiting for me at home,” he tested in Yales.
Five soldiers were killed by bombs buried in the embankment on Tuesday.
They have been trying to reinstall a bridge destroyed by the rebels.
– “Bring War” –
Life in Micay Canyon is dangerous and expensive, although poverty is at the center of one of the most profitable crops in the world.
Locals quietly expressed uneasiness with the government and the rebels.
A 67-year-old told AFP: “We feel scared, feared, despair, despair and sad. That’s how we feel inside.
The guerrillas have convinced many government forces to burn houses and spray Coca-Cola, leaving them without jobs and no income.
In fact, the Peter administration was sworn in with Coca-Cola.
However, the subsequent explosion of midnight military flight night did not convince the locals to be friendly to the country.
Some locals spoke in a quiet tone, and weary admit that they were ordered by the guerrillas to face them and help expel the army.
AFP reporters witnessed many empty Coca-Cola fields, and workers redeployed the Army to drive the troops out of two nearby areas.
Dozens of locals were seen facing a group of soldiers and shouting to them to leave the area.
The soldiers were reluctant to shoot, unarmed civilians, and were forced to retreat.
Especially the disillusionment of the government, especially oil.
Petro himself is a former guerrilla team, winning 81% of the vote in Mickey, a wider province around.
“This should be a change of government and see how it attacks us and brings war,” said a 37-year-old delicious harvester.
Petro claims that locals are being “instrumentalized” by armed groups.
For Juana Cabezas, a researcher at the NGO Indepaz, “Colombia is not back in the past”, a decades-long conflict that has caused hundreds of thousands of conflicts across the country.
However, since the disbandment of the major guerrilla group (Colombia Revolutionary Armed Forces) in 2017, the armed groups have broken down and reconfigured.
For the residents of Michelle Canyon, hope for peace is a distant memory.
One woman said: “Our dreams are shattered.”
“The only thing left is death.”
LV/ARB/DES/SCO
