President Gustavo Petro announces a speech and cabinet meeting on security for this Monday, May 5.

President Gustavo Petro announced that this Monday, May 5, he will deliver a presidential address on national security and a cabinet meeting on the same topic . This comes amid the escalating violence caused by the "Pistol Plan" (Pistol Plan) that has shaken various regions of the country and left 23 members of the Public Force dead.

According to the president, the meetings will serve to share an assessment of the situation, the actions taken, and the problems that persist. " Tomorrow, there will be a presidential address and a Council of Ministers meeting on security in Colombia. You will learn the real assessment of security and the policies adopted in this regard, their successes and failures ," the head of state reported.

In recent hours, two more soldiers have died in terrorist attacks attributed primarily to the "Gulf Clan." The first case occurred after an explosive device detonated on the road connecting Río de Oro with Aguachica, Cesar, killing Corporal Sneider Romero Barragán. Minutes later, troops from the 32nd Infantry Battalion Pedro Justo Berrío, attached to the Fourth Brigade, were harassed, apparently by members of the "Gulf Clan," while carrying out security duties in the municipality of Frontino, Antioquia, where Private Alejandro Bejarano González was killed.

The string of attacks, which has put at least five regions of the country on edge, has been responded to by authorities offering rewards of up to 200 million pesos for information that helps prevent further attacks. In Cúcuta, the information helped locate an arsenal that was to be used in the "pistol plot," according to the police.

Last week, President Petro ordered the intensification of actions against the "Gulf Clan"—which, despite all its violence, continues to seek a place in "total peace"—and the reactivation of Operation Agamemnon, which has been in operation for over a decade and has repeatedly decapitated this criminal organization, heir to the former paramilitary groups. Today, the main target is alias Chiquito Malo, a former paramilitary who inherited power from the extradited "Otoniel" and has consolidated a criminal empire that could number more than 6,000 criminals through various means, from direct activism to "franchises" with smaller organizations.

Juan Pablo Penagos Ramirez