Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced Tuesday that hundreds of thousands of bullets, thousands of grenades, and 37 anti-tank missiles have gone missing from two military bases in the South American country.
The president mentioned in the statement that during an inspection this month, the army discovered the theft from a base in the country's center and another one near the Caribbean coast.
The first left-wing president expressed his concern over the missing ammunition, noting that it might end up in the hands of Colombian rebel groups. He also said another possibility was that it might have been illegally sold to criminal organizations in other countries, including gangs in Haiti.
"The only way to explain these missing items is that there are networks made up of people within the armed forces who are involved in the illegal arms trade," the president said, AP News reported.
The president further said the inspections of military bases will continue to "separate the armed forces from any type of criminal organization."
This inspection began as Colombia resumed its fight against the FARC-EMC, a rebel group in the southwest of the country. The rebel group split from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia after the government signed a peace deal with them in 2016.
Since Petro took over the office in 2022, he began peace talks with some of the remaining rebel groups in the country, causing less fighting between the government and rebel groups. However, there are critics of Petro's administration who claim that these groups are still engaged in extortion and kidnapping of civilians.
According to the critics, the peace talks with rebel groups have led to strengthening their positions and increased their influence over communities.
Thousands of Colombians marched through major cities in the country Wednesday to show their anger toward Petro's supported political, economic and social reforms, while urging the government to address worsening security conditions.
According to the police, there were around 52,000 protesters, who peacefully marched in cities like Medellin and Cali aside from the capital Bogota.
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