Colombia’s Haitian Army (EGC), the country’s largest criminal organization, has announced the temporary suspension of peace talks in Qatar after Colombian President Gustavo Petro vowed to target its leader.
In a social media post on Wednesday, the EGC, sometimes referred to as the Gulf Clan, indicated that the suspension would continue pending updates from the Petro administration.
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“At the order of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the EGC delegation at the negotiating table will temporarily suspend discussions with the government to consult and clarify the veracity of the information,” the group wrote in a statement on X.
“If the media reports are true, this would be a breach of good faith and Doha commitments.”
Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed the news on Wednesday. sharing A list of three drug “kingpins” that the Petro administration would prioritize as “high-level targets.”
Among the three targets was the leader of the EGC, Jesus Avila Villadiego alias Chiquito Malo. A reward of 5 billion Colombian pesos, equivalent to $1.37m, was placed for his capture.
The other two “kingpins” included top rebel commanders known only by their aliases: Ivan Mordisco and Pablito.
The public announcement echoes a private announcement made during a closed-door meeting at the White House on Tuesday, when Petro met United States President Donald Trump in person for the first time.
For months, Trump has pressed the Petro administration to take more “aggressive action” to combat drug trafficking out of Colombia.
In response, Petro and his team presented a dossier on their anti-narcotics operations to the Trump administration on Tuesday, titled “Colombia: America’s #1 Ally Against Narcoterrorists”.
The presentation included statistics on cocaine seizures, programs to eradicate coca crops, and high-level arrests and killings of drug lords.
But negotiations with the EGC have been jeopardized by its commitment to cooperate with the US in pursuing the arrest of Chiquito Malo.
Questions have also been raised about the future of Petro’s signature policy, “Total Peace,” which was designed to negotiate with rebel groups and criminal networks in an effort to end Colombia’s six-decade internal conflict.
According to a recent report by the Ideas for Peace Foundation, the EGC is a major criminal group with nearly 10,000 members.
In December, the U.S Appointed As part of ongoing efforts to combat drug trafficking, the group as a “foreign terrorist organization”.
The EGC is engaged in high-level discussions with the Government of Colombia in Doha from September 2025. The two parties signed a “Commitment for Peace” on December 5, in which the EGC laid down a roadmap for disarmament.
The first step towards demobilization is the massing of troops in temporary zones by the group starting from March. The government in December suspended arrest warrants for EGC commanders, including Chiquito Malo, who were to move to the area.
But analysts say the process has been destabilized by the government’s plan to detain drug lords announced at the White House yesterday.
“(EGC) interprets it as a direct threat, where any commander with an arrest warrant is at greater risk if he goes into the temporary zone,” said Gerson Arias, a conflict and security researcher at the Ideas for Peace Foundation, a Bogotá-based think tank.
Colombia’s Supreme Court approved Chiquito Malo’s extradition to the United States in January following his arrest, but the final decision on his extradition rests with the president.
By declaring the drug lord a “target” at the White House, Petro signaled support for the capture and extradition of the EGC commander.
According to experts, the possible involvement of the United States in the operation has unsettled the criminal organization.
“The pursuit of Chiquito Malo by the Colombian government is very different from becoming a target of joint strategic value involving US intelligence,” said Laura Bonilla, deputy director of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, a think tank in Colombia.
Although the EGC suspended its peace talks on Wednesday, it stressed that it remained open to resuming negotiations.
“It should be clarified that the suspension is temporary, not permanent, which indicates that they (talks) will resume soon,” the group’s lawyer Ricardo Giraldo told Al Jazeera.
Giraldo added that in order for the talks to continue, the EGC needed “legal and personal security guarantees” and “meet the commitments agreed upon in Doha, Qatar”.