Colombia's new National Intelligence Agency

President Juan Manuel Santos signed a decree on Monday implementing Colombia's newly formed National Intelligence Agency (ANI) in lieu of the eradicated and disgraced Department of Administrative Security (DAS).
The Colombian government declared that the new agency, headed by former Navy commander Alvaro Echandia, is a modern institution dedicated exclusively to intelligence and counter-intelligence gathering in the state.
Echandia, born in Medellin in 1953, was vice-admiral of the Colombian Navy until his appointment as ANI director and has occupied both military and diplomatic positions in his professional life.
Under the new decree, the ANI is a civilian agency under the Presidency of the Republic and has no judicial police functions. It will not support criminal investigations and will have nothing to do monitoring the security of the state. Judicial documents given to DAS in the past will be eliminated.
In the initial calculations of the President, the elimination of DAS and the creation of ANI will cost about $37 million.
The Colombian Presidency has not revealed how many former DAS employees will take part in the new intelligence agency. Santos also did not announce how many employees the agency will have.

9 killed in central Colombia combat between Army and 'FARC'

Eight alleged members of guerrilla group FARC and one soldier were killed, and five rebel suspects were arrested in operations in central Colombia, newspaper El Espectador reported Tuesday.
According to the newspaper, seven of the killed rebel suspects and the army soldier were killed in combat that took place in Vista Hermosa, a municipality in the department of Meta.
An eighth alleged guerrilla was killed in a Cartagena de Chaira municipality in Caqueta.
The Army reportedly also seized 11 rifles, a 60mm mortar, large quantities of ammunition and communication equipment.
El Espectador reported that the army also confiscated documents about the insurgent group's finances and plans for terrorist attacks.

Petro's victory in Bogota a message for guerrillas to disarm: Santos

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos announced on Monday that Gustavo Petro's mayoral victory in Bogota is a message to guerrillas that it's time to lay down their arms.
Santos said that Petro's election is "the most prominent example that reintegration does pay, and social transformations are obtained from the polls of democracy and not from the gun."
With Petro's victory, Santos sees an opportunity for an ex-guerrilla to prove that the path of reconciliation is the most sensible way, according to the presidential website.
Commenting on Petro's past as a guerrilla, Santos remarked, "The mayor was active in the M-19 - as I said and as he had said - a son of the peace process, but now the first charge from the capital of the country comes from the force of his ideas, by the courage of his convictions, and by something very important, by betting on democracy."
He went on to stress that Petro's victory shows that "proposals never, ever should be [made] from pain or death."