Colombian authorities announced on Saturday that they had intensified their military offensive in the Catatumbo region (north-east) bordering Venezuela, where a bloody attack by ELN guerrillas against civilians and FARC dissidents left at least 60 dead. since Thursday, according to a new report.
“Right now the situation is very critical in this region of the country,” said army commander General Luis Emilio Cardozo, addressing troops deploying in the Catatumbo mountains.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Friday that he was suspending peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN).
The death toll from clashes involving the ELN rose to “around 60 dead,” the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office announced on Saturday on X. The victims “died violently in Convencion, Abrego, Teorama, El Tarra, Hacari and Tibu,” he added.
The authorities’ previous report showed 40 deaths.
The ELN assault broke a truce with dissidents from the defunct FARC guerrillas and challenged the left-wing government of Gustavo Petro, who came to power with a pledge to seek a negotiated solution to six decades of conflict armed.
Until then, the two rebel organizations were engaged in parallel peace negotiations with the government.
There was a “breakdown, let’s say, of this alliance” between the ELN and FARC dissidents who broke the 2016 peace agreement, which “had a very significant impact on the civilian population,” he said. declared the general in a video broadcast by the army on the X network.
“Miserably killed”
Recalling the worst hours of the armed conflict in Colombia, ELN guerrillas attacked the civilian population on Thursday and confronted dissidents of the former guerrilla group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Catatumbo, official sources reported.
“They took people out of their homes and killed them in a miserable way, violating human rights. It is up to us, as a national army, to stabilize the territory,” General Cardozo told the uniformed officers, explaining that he had deployed 300 additional soldiers to the region.
The historic peace deal disarmed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), but the dissident groups have reorganized with new recruits and are waging war against the state, other organizations and the civilian population.
-Following the ELN attack, Mr. Petro suspended peace talks with the organization and accused it of “war crimes.”
Gustavo Petro began talks with the ELN in late 2022, when he became Colombia’s first left-wing president.
But the peace process is in constant crisis due to rebel attacks, disputes with other armed groups and differences between the different parties that have prevented the conclusion of concrete agreements.
“Very scary for the children”
This new chapter of violence in Catatumbo has led to the displacement of more than 2,500 people towards Tibú, the city’s mayor, Richar Claro, said on Saturday.
AFP, which visited the site, was able to see the climate of despair that reigns in the four temporary shelters opened to accommodate the victims.
“We are very afraid for the children and that we will be left in the middle of the conflict,” Carmelina Perez, 62, who fled with her grandchildren, told AFP.
With more than 50,000 hectares of coca crops, fuel for the long armed conflict, Catatumbo is a symbol of the internal war which has claimed more than 9.5 million victims in six decades.
Villagers were even evacuated by helicopter and “displaced people continue to arrive at the various reception points” of the victims, a military source told AFP.
Colombia is due to attend a session of the United Nations Security Council next week, during which it will present a report on the ELN’s “war crimes”, according to Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo.
