Colombia’s Attorney General, Luz Adriana Camargo, has reactivated an arrest warrant against Alexander Díaz Mendoza, better known as alias Calarcá, one of the country’s most notorious rebel commanders. The move comes just a week after President Abelardo De La Espriella ordered an airstrike on one of Calarcá’s camps in Guaviare, a department in southern Colombia.
Calarcá leads a powerful dissident faction of the former FARC guerrilla group, operating mainly in southern Colombia. His forces are blamed for bombings, killings, kidnappings, extortion, and forced displacement across the region. Despite this record, the group had benefited from former President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” policy, a strategy that suspended arrest warrants for rebel negotiators in hopes of reaching disarmament deals — a policy critics say instead allowed armed groups to expand their reach.
The new order follows the government’s decision on August 28 to formally end peace talks with Calarcá’s faction, known as the Estado Mayor de Bloques y Frentes. According to the prosecutor’s resolution, ending the group’s negotiating status automatically restores all previously suspended arrest warrants against its representatives. The measure also applies to leaders of two other outlawed groups, the Coordinadora Nacional Ejército Bolivariano and the Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada.
The announcement coincided with a court hearing in Villavicencio, where prosecutors sought pretrial detention for Díaz, accusing him of orchestrating a wave of attacks since 2024 while shielded by the peace process.
To read the full story in Spanish, visit El Tiempo.
Source: Atención: Fiscalía reactiva orden de captura contra alias Calarcá y otros cabecillas de las disidencias (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: Cpl. Christopher J. Moore.