In Colombia, the canyon of cocaine and guerrilla warfare that threatens peace

Coca and guerrillas… In the heart of Cauca, in the south-west of Colombia, the narrow Micay canyon crystallizes all the tensions in the laborious negotiations carried out There have been disputes since October between the government and the main faction of the Farc dissidents.

Bastion of the “EMC” (Central Staff), members of the Farc who never accepted the historic peace agreement signed in 2016 with this Marxist guerrilla, the canyon del Micay is also one of the main areas of production of cocaine in the country, prohibited to the army and any outside observer, but where the AFP had exceptional access.

– “Achilles' heel” –

Coca fields in the Micay Canyon, stronghold of the EMC, the main faction of the Farc dissidence, in the Cauca department, March 25, 2024 in Colombia © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

The fluorescent green of the coca plantations floods the walls of imposing mountains plunging towards the Micay River below.

Under tin roofs, makeshift laboratories are set up a almost everywhere along the dirt roads where people travel mainly by motorbike.

In plain sight, farmers are mixing it in plastic barrels blue the precious leaf has gasoline, local manufacturing of the base paste which will then be used by the narcos to produce pure cocaine.

At the chance of a turn, two Armed guerrillas control the vehicles, check the occupants' papers and travel authorizations.

A man works in a coca paste laboratory in the Micay Canyon, stronghold of the Central Staff (EMC), in the Cauca department, March 25, 2024 in Colombia © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

EMC reigns supreme here. The immense canyon is the territory of the Carlos Patino Front, one of the reputedly hardest structures of dissidence and the most involved in drug trafficking.

“The Micay canyon has become like an obsession for the government. It seems like all the Colombian coca comes out of here,” laughs Nelson Enrique Rios, known as “Gafas” (glasses), the political leader of this Front, in responsible for the administration of the territory.

At 51 years old, including 36 within the Farc, this man, affable with journalists, his round face eaten by thick glasses with black frames, was in the past the feared jailer of the Franco-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, like that of all the high-value personalities kidnapped by the ex-guerrillas in the 2000s.

Nelson Enrique Rios, alias Gafas, political leader of the Carlos Patino Front, during an interview with AFP in the Micay canyon, in the Cauca department, on March 24, 2024 in Colombia © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

“The military option is not the solution for the government. Otherwise, it will be war…”, underlines “Gafas”, in civilian clothes but always with his gun at his side.< /p>

According to the press, the Micay canyon has proven to be the “Achilles heel” of the negotiations which are now hanging by a thread. This since President Gustavo Petro, accusing the EMC of having taken advantage of it to expand its “criminal activities” and castigating its leader Ivan Mordisco as a “trafficker” worthy of “Pablo Escobar”, announced the suspension of the ceasefire. -temporary fire in three departments (including Cauca) and promised the recapture of the area by the army.

– “Semi-urban” –

The portrait of the late leader and founder of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), Manuel Marulanda Velez, in the Micay Canyon, March 26, 2024 in Colombia © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

The royal route for taking cocaine to the Pacific coast, the Micay canyon is “a far-west known since the 19th century for its gold in its rivers, with a very dynamic economy”, explains Juan Manuel Torres, former researcher at the Pares foundation.

“Guerrillas have been fighting for decades for control of the coca fields” planted in the 1980s/90, and the inhabitants, many of whom are Afro-Colombians, “are accustomed to relying only on themselves”.

Established since 2020, the Carlo Patino Front has consolidated its power over these mountains with an iron fist, assassinating a large number of local leaders, reshaping a civil society under its thumb while imposing taxes and rules. “Communities are the real victims of this violence,” according to Juana Cabezas, researcher for the Indepaz think tank.

The Micay canyon in Colombia © AFP – Gustavo IZUS, Guillermo RIVAS PACHECO, Gabriela VAZ

“In the canyon, there is gold and coca”, replies “Gafas” with all simplicity. “Our sources of financing are the tax on coca, the narcos come to buy drugs here. And there is the tax on gold.”

” We no longer do detentions (kidnappings),” he assures. “Here people live well. No crime or vice.” But the slightest deviation is immediately punished, he admits. By “community service” for small crimes, “with a 9 mm bullet” for the most serious crimes.

Members of the Carlos Patino Front of the dissident Farc guerrilla patrol in the Micay Canyon, March 24, 2024 in Colombia © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

Alongside the uniformed guerrillas deployed in the jungle, “militiamen” in civilian clothes work in small urban centers. “After years in the jungle, we are now a semi-urban guerrilla.”

“We live with the villagers. We have the weapons, but they are the people , via the JAC (Communal Action Council), which decides”, he says.

“We supported the construction of roads, bridges… The communities feel supported,” says the guerrilla.

– Brothels and glyphosate –< /p>

The population seems to adapt to this presence, or collaborate closely for certain inhabitants.

“The Patino Front is l “authority in the canyon. He gives directions. And helps us with certain projects”, comments Adriana Rivera, 44 years old, secretary of the JAC of San Juan del Micay.

People watch a cockfight during the carnival in the village of San Juan de Micay, Micay Canyon, March 23, 2024 in Colombia © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

At the start of the week, it's “carnival” in the central square of the village, with cockfights, stunning sound system by “DJ Smurf” and alcohol galore for four non-stop days.

A welcome respite from the daily hard work of the cocaleiros (coca pickers) who dance in the mud, their rubber boots on their feet, and get dizzy on the arms of prostitutes .

Around the square, there are mainly nightclubs, hotels, small restaurants and hardware stores stocked with glyphosate and other weed-killing poisons for coca.

This day- there we also celebrate the inauguration of a health center and the delivery of an ambulance, financed jointly by the communities and the Carlos Patino Front.

“It’s a dream come true,” rejoices Ms. Rivera, assuring that this “region has always been totally abandoned by the State. All we have here, schools, roads… it was the farmers who built it themselves.”

An ambulance funded by local communities and the Central Staff (EMC), a dissident faction of the Farc, is delivered to the village of San Juan del Micay, in the Micay Canyon, March 24, 2024, Colombia © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

This inauguration sparked controversy in Bogota, with the embarrassed government seeing it as a “blow to the institutions”.

The iconic project in the valley is the dirt road leading to the village of Salto, where the Micay River becomes navigable, which would completely open the way to the Pacific. And would be the first road from Cauca to the ocean. “We still have two kilometers as the crow flies to build,” reveals “Gafas”.

– “Toilet paper” –

Members of the Carlos Patino Front of the dissident Farc guerrilla group patrol coca fields in Micay Canyon, Colombia, March 24, 2024. © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

The highlight of recent months in the canyon is the drop in the price of coca paste, by almost 30%, while this economy irrigates the entire valley.

“It's hard at the moment. Everything we have here comes from coca. Gold cannot replace” this shortfall, confides Ms. Rivera.

< p>The pilot plan for President Petro's new policy against drugs, with replacement crops, must eventually be implemented in the valley.

Coca fields in the Micay Canyon, stronghold of the EMC, the main faction of the Farc dissidence, in the Cauca department, March 25, 2024 in Colombia © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

“What resources will we be able to count on ?” worries the head of the JAC, who admits half-heartedly that the presence of the EMC is insurance for the communities to continue living with coca.

“The entry of the army would be the end of coca. It would also be the arrival of delinquency and vice”, assures Commander “Gafas”, for whom in any case “the communities will not let the military enter” the canyon.

Even if the truce is now “more dead than alive”, discussions must resume at the beginning of April.

The 2016 agreement was ultimately “only a big book never applied and thrown away overnight like toilet paper”, maintains the political boss of the Patino Front.

Coca fields in the Micay Canyon, stronghold of the EMC, the main faction of the Farc dissidence, in the Cauca department, March 25, 2024 in Colombia © AFP – Raul ARBOLEDA

“But I love these negotiations! Each point decided is implemented, before moving on to the next point. There is no other way to negotiate”, he asserts , evoking “a discussion of equals”.

“Without weapons, we are nothing. It will be the last thing we abandon”, says the guerrilla .

“The illusion that people have is that the war is ending,” says Rigoberto Gomez, a 57-year-old resident of the city. of El Plateado.

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