One of the few officers who remained steadfast in showing with data that the Hercules C-130 plane that crashed in southern Colombia, leaving 70 military personnel dead, was not scrap, as President Gustavo Petro had claimed, was the commander of the Colombian Aerospace Force, General Carlos Silva. Now it seems that this stance by the senior officer may have cost him his position, as the president Petro reportedly requested his resignation.
During a cabinet meeting, Silva presented a comprehensive report on the remaining service life of the ill-fated aircraft, even though it had already been in service for many years: “Year of manufacture, 1983; acquired by Colombia in 2020. It arrived with a total of 20,294 hours available to fly. This means that its structure, by factory design, still allows it to fly all those hours. Obviously, an aircraft, like any plane on the planet, must undergo certain maintenance periods,” Silva said at the time.
FAC commander contradicted Gustavo Petro
In front of the incredulous gaze of the other attendees and the discomfort of President Petro, the FAC commander continued with calculations that contradicted the head of state. “Between 2021 and 2024 [the Hercules C-130] flew 345 hours; in 2025 it flew 537, and this year it had flown 155. An aircraft of this type flies approximately 500 hours annually. So we can divide the 20,000 hours it still has available by 500, and it tells us that the plane can still fly for another 40 years.” It was at that moment, apparently, that he put himself in a very precarious position.
The expectation of what might happen with Silva took hold of the country. President Petro is known for not tolerating opinions that go against his own. This attitude has led to a historic and negative record of 60 ministers in his cabinet during his time in office. So one less general would not be anything new.
Although the Casa de Nariño has not officially reported anything on the matter, the Spanish newspaper El Pais published, citing unnamed sources from the Presidency of the Republic, that President Petro “has requested the resignation of the FAC commander following the public clash the two had last week over the causes of the military plane accident.” The president has the constitutional authority to do this because he is the commander-in-chief of the country’s Armed Forces.
Petro’s decision would punish the officer, but not because of the accident
According to the outlet, reiterating its information from “the same sources,” President Petro “has already given the order to his collaborators, and Carlos Fernando Silva’s position hangs by a thread. The Ministry of Defense, led by Pedro Sánchez, former FAC commander, denies knowing about such a decision.”
The decision regarding General Silva, according to the sources cited by the Spanish newspaper, is not directly related to the accident, but rather to the way the general handled his intervention during the cabinet meeting, which was televised and observed by much of the country. “The president considers that [Silva] missed an opportunity where he could have requested that we needed to renew the air fleet,” said the cited sources.
In conclusion, the criticism is not aimed at what Silva said, but at what he did not say. According to the sources mentioned by El Pais, the general missed a high-impact political scenario to support the need to modernize the military air capacity that Petro has championed. If the officer’s departure is confirmed, it would represent a new episode in the way President Petro treats those who back his arguments with data and reasoning. His track record speaks to this.
Petro appointed Silva as commander of the FAC on Dec. 27, in the midst of announcements of changes in the military high command. The officer graduated as a pilot officer from the Military Aviation School in 1989. With over 8,000 flight hours, he has operated aircraft such as the OV-10, Do-328, Fk-28, and B-767.
He holds a Master’s degree in strategic studies from the United States Air War College, training that has strengthened his strategic vision and institutional leadership.
Throughout his career, he has held important positions such as commander of the Air and Space Operations Command, chief of the Military House of the Presidency of the Republic, and Director of the Military Aviation School – EMAVI.