At least 80 people killed in northeastern Colombia as ELN peace talks fail. armed group news
Attacks by rebel ELN fighters in the Catatumbo area have forced thousands of people to flee the area.
More than 80 people have been killed in just three days in northeastern Colombia following failed attempts at peace talks with the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN), an official has said.
The ELN last Thursday attacked a rival group in the northeastern Catatumbo region, composed of former members of the now-defunct FARC armed group, which continued fighting after its disarmament in 2017.
Civilians were caught in the middle, and as of Sunday, it was estimated that “more than 80 people have lost their lives,” said William Villamizar, governor of the Norte de Granada department, which includes Catatumbo.
The final death toll on Saturday was estimated at 60 people in five municipalities in the mountainous cocaine-producing region near the border with Venezuela, including seven former fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The victims included community leader Carmelo Guerrero and seven people who had sought to sign a peace accord, according to a report released late Saturday by the government ombudsman agency.
Thousands of people are fleeing the area, some hiding in nearby lush green mountains or seeking help at government shelters.
Villamizar said the outbreak of violence left about two dozen people injured and about 5,000 people displaced, and described the resulting humanitarian situation as “alarming.”
“Catatumbo needs help,” Villamizar said in a public address Saturday.
“Boys, girls, youth, teenagers, entire families are walking, on trucks, dump trucks, motorcycles, whatever they can, without doing anything, to avoid becoming victims of this collision.”
The army said more than 5,000 troops had been sent to the area to “reinforce security”.
Army commander Gen. Luis Emilio Cardozo Santamaría said Saturday that authorities were consolidating a humanitarian corridor between Tibu and Cúcuta for the safe passage of people forced to flee their homes. He said special urban troops were also deployed in municipal capitals “where there is risk and a lot of fear”.
The FARC disarmed under a 2016 peace deal after more than half a century of war.
However, the agreement failed to end violence involving leftist groups, including FARC holdouts, right-wing paramilitaries, and drug cartels over resources and smuggling routes in some areas of the country.
The ELN has accused former FARC rebels of several killings in the area, including the killing of a couple and their nine-month-old baby on January 15.
In a statement on Saturday, the ELN said it had warned former FARC members that if they “continued attacking the population… there is no other way out except armed confrontation”.
The ELN has also clashed in recent days with the Gulf Clan, the biggest drug cartel in the country, the world’s largest cocaine producer, killing at least nine people in an isolated part of northern Colombia.
The latest violence prompted President Gustavo Petro on Friday to cancel talks with the ELN in pursuit of “complete peace” for the violence-stricken country.
