The president of Colombia, Abelardo De la Espriella, communicated this Thursday a profound restructuring in the leadership of the Armed Forces, with at least five key changes, including that of the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with the aim of facing "decisively" the "narcoterrorism".
"As I said during the campaign, security is a fundamental axis of this Government and I am fulfilling the promise I made to my compatriots, to those nearly thirteen million compatriots who trusted me and voted decisively," he recalled while presenting an "absolutely extraordinary" military leadership that, he insisted, will allow "to win the war against narcoterrorism".
With these changes, Generals Erik Rodríguez Aparicio and Carlos Carrasquilla Gómez, both with more than thirty years of experience, will assume command of the Armed Forces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, respectively.
General José Bertulfo Soto Sánchez will take charge of the Army, while the National Navy will be under the command of Vice Admiral Javier Jaime Pinilla. For its part, the Aerospace Force, which recovers its historical name of Air Force, will be led by General Juan Martínez Osa.
De la Espriella has emphasized that all of them are "the best (...) to win the war against crime" and that they have a "clear, decisive, and unequivocal" instruction to guarantee the protection of Colombians and safeguard sovereignty and security throughout the national territory.
"I am committed to freeing Colombia from crime, from delinquency, from the daily anguish that narcoterrorism imposes on our society, that organized crime is constantly exercising against our defenseless population," he reiterated.
In this line, the president has emphasized that the renewed military leadership will have the mission to bring "peace" to the citizens, although he has stressed that it will not be "the peace that is negotiated with the bandits kneeling the State (but) the peace that is imposed with the force of arms and the laws of the Republic".