President of Colombia claims thousands of bullets are missing from army bases

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said on Tuesday that many bullets are missing from two military bases in South America.

Petro said the army found lots of bullets, grenades, and missiles were stolen from two military bases this month.

Petro, the first president from the left-wing party, said the bullets could have been taken by Colombian rebel groups or sold illegally to criminal groups in other countries, like gangs in Haiti.

“The reason these things are missing is because there are groups of people in the military who are trading weapons illegally,” said Petro.

Petro said that they will keep checking military bases to make sure there are no criminal groups involved with the armed forces.

The investigation is happening because Colombia is fighting again in the southwest of the country. They are fighting against a rebel group called FARC-EMC, which split from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia after the peace deal with the government in 2016.

Petro started talking to some rebel groups after he became president in 2022. In some parts of the country, there is less fighting between the government and rebel groups. But critics of the Petro administration say these groups still threaten and take people for ransom. They believe that the peace talks has helped the rebels become stronger and gain more control over communities.