Operation Amun airstrike kills eight guerrilla fighters in Guaviare
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella on Wednesday formally ended predecessor Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” security strategy, revoking legal protections for participants in the prior administration’s peace talks and signing orders to extradite five leaders of guerrilla and paramilitary groups to the United States.
In a post on X, De la Espriella wrote that “From the first day, I was clear: Peace cannot be a refuge for criminals or a mechanism for impunity.” He said he had instructed authorities “to carry out the transfer and extradition to the United States” of the five defendants.
Their extraditions had been suspended under Petro because the five had been serving as representatives or negotiators in the peace talks the previous administration launched. All five were prosecuted in 2025 in the United States on charges related to drug trafficking, terrorism and serious human rights violations.
In a second post on Wednesday, De la Espriella declared: “The privileges disguised as peace are over. Anyone who wants to move toward legality will have to prove it through actions and submit to justice.”
The named defendants include Willinton Henao Gutiérrez, known as “El Mocho Olmedo,” and Carmen Evelio Castillo Carrillo, known as “Muñeca.” A third name — Geovany — appeared in De la Espriella’s post but was truncated in the version UPI reproduced.
The five include key leaders of dissident factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, paramilitary organizations, and factions of the National Liberation Army, or ELN.
The announcement came as Colombia’s military carried out Operation Amun, a large-scale precision airstrike against camps in the jungles of the Guaviare region. De la Espriella confirmed Thursday that the strike left a preliminary toll of eight guerrilla fighters dead.
The operation marked the first major air offensive under Colombia’s newly appointed military leadership and reinforced the government’s decision to end the negotiation benefits granted under the previous administration.
Combat aircraft carried out the early-morning strike Thursday against camps controlled by Alexander Díaz Mendoza, known as “Calarcá,” the leader of a faction of dissidents from the former FARC. His group has been linked to extortion and drug trafficking.
The strike came one day after U.S. Southern Command chief Gen. Francis Donovan arrived in Bogotá, the Colombian newspaper El Colombiano reported. The meetings were aimed at coordinating joint strategies and expanding intelligence sharing to combat transnational criminal organizations the United States has designated as narcoterrorist groups.
De la Espriella had authorized joint airstrikes against drug-trafficking areas on July 12.