We felt there was more control, more presence. Even the helicopters stopped flying.
Violence in Cauca has surged with 21 deaths, 36 injured from explosives, plus kidnappings and illegal checkpoints since General Mejía's departure from regional command. Social and business sectors credit Mejía's previous tenure with reducing forced recruitment of minors, homicides, theft and extortion through Operation Perseo.
- 21 people killed and 36 wounded by explosives on May 2, 2026
- General Federico Mejía commanded Cauca operations; now heads training center at Tolemaida
- 32 workers resigned from Panamericana highway project in two months due to violence
- ELN threats halted garbage collection in Popayán; four vehicles attacked or burned
- Forced recruitment of minors dropped from first to thirteenth place under Mejía's command
Colombian social organizations in Cauca demand the return of General Federico Mejía to address escalating violence from FARC dissidents and ELN, citing deteriorated security since his reassignment to a training command.
The Cauca department is collapsing under the weight of its own violence. In recent weeks, armed groups—FARC dissidents and the National Liberation Army (ELN)—have turned the region into a landscape of explosions, kidnappings, and illegal roadblocks. On May 2 alone, a single blast killed 21 people and wounded 36 others. Days later, on May 21, a clash between Nasa and Misak indigenous communities in Silvia left seven dead and 110 injured. The garbage trucks have stopped running in Popayán, the departmental capital, because the ELN has threatened the sanitation workers. Two vehicles were torched this year; two more were shot at last week.
In response to this deterioration, social and business organizations across Cauca have sent formal letters to the defense minister, the army commander, and President Gustavo Petro's office. Their demand is specific: bring back Brigadier General Federico Mejía. Mejía, who previously commanded both the Cauca-specific operations unit and the Third Division, is now stationed at a training center at Tolemaida air base. The organizations argue that his departure has directly caused the security collapse they are now experiencing.
Mejía is best known for Operation Perseo, launched in October 2024 to reclaim territory in El Plateado. During his tenure in the region, according to the petitioners, he earned widespread community trust through his leadership style and his visible presence alongside both civilians and business sectors. The organizations credit him with concrete results: they say forced recruitment of minors in Santander de Quilichao dropped from first place to thirteenth place in the Ombudsman's rankings. Homicides, theft, and extortion all declined, though the letters do not provide specific numbers to support these claims. The Panamericana highway expansion project—a major infrastructure initiative—proceeded under his watch with relative security. Now, 32 workers on that same project have resigned in the past two months out of fear.
The current commander of the Third Division, Brigadier General Javier Hernando Africano López, has drawn sharp criticism. At a binational security council meeting on February 26, when regional leaders pressed him on the deteriorating situation, López reportedly responded by telling them to visit Mejía at Tolemaida if they missed him so much. The remark infuriated the attendees and crystallized their sense that the current leadership lacks both the capacity and the commitment to address the crisis.
It is worth noting that Mejía himself is under investigation by the prosecutor's office on charges of criminal association. This detail complicates the narrative the social organizations are promoting, yet they have chosen to overlook it entirely in their formal requests. The indigenous community Kiwe Wala, in a statement dated November 19, 2025, described Mejía's previous management as "fundamental" and said it had provided "tangible relief" to the region.
The letters paint a picture of a region in free fall. Beyond the explosions and kidnappings, there is the slow-motion emergency of basic services failing. The health crisis in Popayán is real and immediate. The infrastructure project that was supposed to modernize the region is now at risk of abandonment. The organizations frame their request not as nostalgia for a particular officer but as a practical appeal: they had security under Mejía, they do not have it now, and they want it back. Whether the government will grant that request remains unclear, but the desperation behind it is unmistakable.
Notable Quotes
If you miss General Mejía so much, go visit him at Tolemaida.— Brigadier General Javier Hernando Africano López, at a February 26 security council meeting
His management was fundamental and provided tangible relief to the region.— Indigenous community Kiwe Wala, November 19, 2025
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would communities rally around a general who is himself under criminal investigation?
Because in a place where buses are being stopped at gunpoint and explosives are killing dozens at a time, the abstract question of a general's legal troubles feels distant. People remember that under him, their children weren't being forcibly recruited into armed groups. That matters more than a prosecutor's file.
But doesn't that suggest the communities are being manipulated—that they're being used to shield someone from accountability?
It's possible. But it's also possible that both things are true at once: Mejía may have committed crimes and also been more effective at preventing violence than his successor. The organizations aren't claiming he's innocent. They're saying the trade-off they're living with now is worse.
What does it say about the Colombian military that the best security option available seems to be a man under investigation?
It says the institution is thin on talent, or at least on people who can command respect in a place as fractured as Cauca. It also says that effectiveness and legality don't always align in counterinsurgency work. That's a problem the government hasn't solved.
The garbage trucks stopped. That's almost mundane compared to the explosions. Why does that detail matter?
Because it shows how armed groups don't just kill—they strangle ordinary life. When sanitation workers can't do their jobs, disease follows. The violence isn't just the headline events. It's the slow suffocation of a place.
Do you think Mejía will actually be reassigned back to Cauca?
The government would face enormous pressure if it did. Bringing back a man under investigation would look like capitulation to armed pressure. But the government also can't ignore that the region is deteriorating. They're trapped between two bad choices.