Colombia’s president launched the Urano joint military and police task force on Monday, moving the government’s approach to rebel groups and drug gangs from peace talks to military offensives in the country’s northeast. The move brings army, navy and air force troops together under commanders in Bogota again, with police officers now part of the task force.
The Mission: Pipeline Fuel
President Abelardo de la Espriella said Urano’s main missions include stopping the National Liberation Army, Colombia’s largest remaining rebel group, from stealing gasoline and diesel from a pipeline running from the Caribbean coast to a refinery in Barrancabermeja. He said the ELN uses the fuel to support criminal activity. “They use it to make cocaine, to power illegal mines and to generate income for terrorist activities,” de la Espriella said Monday at a ceremony in Valledupar.
The pipeline and its fuel sit at the center of the task force’s stated purpose. De la Espriella accused the ELN of taking fuel to “feed” criminal economies. The account doesn’t say how much fuel has been stolen or how many people the task force will deploy. It names the pipeline, the alleged theft and the group’s activities as targets of the new operation.
Police officers will serve alongside military forces in Urano. De la Espriella said the restored task forces would let the government confront rebel groups and drug gangs “with greater force.” He also ruled out talks with the armed groups. “There will be no negotiations or empathy with terrorism,” he said.
A Return to Joint Command
For almost two decades, Colombia’s military used joint task forces of army, navy and air force troops to fight rebel groups in rural areas. Commanders in Bogota oversaw them. Those forces helped the military win key victories against the FARC rebels before the group signed a peace deal in 2016.
The government dropped the strategy two years ago, when former President Gustavo Petro’s administration sought to give army commanders in rural areas greater control over operations. Some critics said the decision weakened Colombia’s military. The account doesn’t name those critics or detail the military impact they described.
De la Espriella, a conservative sworn into office in August, has canceled peace talks with the nation’s remaining rebel groups. His administration’s new task force returns to a system where commanders in Bogota oversee combined military units, while shifting the government’s stated strategy away from negotiations and toward offensives.
What the Report Describes
The announced policy concerns security operations, control of fuel theft and the government’s approach to rebel groups and drug gangs. It gives no demographic figures, migration policy or effects on Colombia’s population. Nor does it identify international institutions, private beneficiaries or popular opposition to the task force. The stated actors are the government, the military, police officers and the rebel and criminal groups the task force is meant to fight.
The account also offers no details about the task force’s size, its operating area beyond the country’s northeast or its timetable. Its stated mission includes protecting the pipeline from fuel theft attributed to the ELN. De la Espriella describes its broader role as confronting rebel groups and drug gangs with greater force after the government canceled peace talks.