At least 80 people died in Colombia amid a new surge in violence
At least 80 people were killed and more than 18,000 forced to flee their homes in Colombia amid fierce clashes between two rival armed groups on the border with Venezuela, officials said.
The violence over the past four days in the northeastern region known as Catatumbo is some of the worst the country has experienced in recent years. And it has raised concerns that the country is moving in the opposite direction of “complete peace” – a goal promoted by the country’s leftist president, Gustavo Petro, who is more than halfway through his four-year term. prioritize.
Colombian leader visited the area on Friday, writing on X that his government “stands with the people of Catatumbo.” He also sent troops and humanitarian assistance.
Displaced families are sheltering at a stadium in Cúcuta, a border town that has become famous in recent years for hosting Venezuelan migrants. In some places, Colombians are fleeing to Venezuela – home to the humanitarian crisis – and Venezuela’s autocratic leader there, Nicolás Maduro, has promised to send them aid.
The clashes in Catatumbo are a clear departure from the hopes that swept through parts of Colombia less than a decade ago, when the country signed a peace deal with its largest rebel group, the Colombian Forces. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The country has endured decades of internal conflict with leftist guerrilla groups, including the FARC; paramilitary organizations; and the government struggles to gain control of the country as well as lucrative industries such as the drug trade.
Thousands of FARC fighters laid down their arms in the 2016 deal, and at the time it felt like a seismic shift for one of the world’s most violent countries. But old rebel groups, including the National Liberation Army, or ELN, still exist. At the same time, new ones appear, all of them struggle for control of territory and industry left behind by FARC.
In some cases, these new groups included former FARC fighters, and they splintered and splintered, helping to fuel an increasingly complex conflict.
Most of the violence occurs in rural areas of the country with many Colombians living in cities only dimly aware of the violence taking place not far from their homes.
In the past, FARC adhered to leftist ideology, opposed the government and sought to overthrow and replace it. Armed groups today are more focused on fighting each other, competing for land and profits, while the military is trying to contain them.
Catatumbo is home to vast fields of coca, the plant that is the basic product of cocaine. Two groups control the territory, the ELN and a group of former FARC members known as Front 33, said General Luis Emilio Cardozo, head of the Colombian army. talk to reporters on weekends.
A precarious peace between the two groups was broken last week. General Cardozo said there had been four or five clashes between the groups in recent days, and in several other cases, armed fighters had gone door-to-door, targeting suspected FARC veterans. suspected to be a member of Front 33.
“It was a very well-planned criminal operation,” he said, “with a list of people they wanted to kill.”
In a message posted on X on Sunday, the ELN called Front 33 “our sole target of action.”
But many of the victims, including those who fled their homes, appeared to be civilians.
The ELN, which Mr. Petro has accused of a “massacre” in Catatumbo, is now the oldest left-wing guerrilla group still in existence in Latin America.
It was founded in 1964 by radical Catholic priests and Marxist rebels. For many years, debate group it is pushing for better conditions for poor farmers through acts of violence against the state.
But Mr. Petro, who spent years pursuing the presidency as a left-wing guerrilla in another group, accused the ELN today of being nothing more than a “mafia.”
“I have always admired their revolutionary principles and dedication,” the president said. wrote on X of the rebel group. “I think ELN is dead.”
At the start of his presidency, Mr. Petro said he could reach a peace agreement with various groups within months. In recent days, he suspended ongoing peace talks.
The ELN has thousands of members, according to Colombia’s military, and its presence in the country grew from 149 cities in 2019 to 226 last year, according to Colombia’s ombudsman.
The group has also expanded into Venezuela in recent years, where its members are beyond the reach of the Colombian military and have found an ideological ally in Maduro.
In contrast, Mr. Maduro benefits from having another armed force as an ally.
With the military distracted, a separate conflict broke out in recent days between two former FARC groups in Guaviare, a province in south-central Colombia. according to the national ombudsman’s office.
Organizations including the International Crisis Group have warned for years that Colombia’s security situation has deteriorated since 2016 and could erupt in violence at any time.
“We are very concerned about the current moment,” Elizabeth Dickinson saidan analyst for a non-profit organization based in Colombia. “The escalation on various fronts has brought the conflict to a very dangerous turning point.”
Ms. Dickinson called the scale of the conflict in Guaviare “very significant” and said it had the potential to spread to several areas in southern Colombia. She added that there is “many children” in the ranks of armed groups in that area.
The clashes in Catatumbo, in the north, on the border with Venezuela, come amid growing tensions between Mr. Petro and Mr. Maduro, who continues to provide a safe haven for members of ELN.
Both Mr. Petro and Mr. Maduro call themselves leftists, and just two years agothe two shook hands in Caracas and promised more fruitful relations.
But Mr. Petro has become more critical of the dictator in recent weeks, chiding him for locking up political opponents and refusing to announce the results of the recent presidential election that Mr. Maduro claimed win. The United States and many other countries say the vote actually went to a top opposition leader.
Mr. Petro’s criticism has angered Mr. Maduro, who is increasingly isolated on the international stage, even from former allies such as Colombia and Brazil, and is are looking for ways to counterattack to those who rejected him.
The International Committee of the Red Cross last year said it was monitoring eight different armed conflicts in Colombia.
On Monday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the number of people forced to flee their homes because of violence had risen to more than 18,000.
William Villamizar, governor of North Santander state, a border agency, said the death toll had risen to more than 80 people.
And the country’s ombudsman, Iris Marín, say The violence has become “one of the largest and most serious humanitarian crises that Catatumbo has faced, if not the worst.”
She blamed the conflict on a small number of people in the area and called on them to end it. “A small number of people have the power to end suffering.”
Federico Rios And Genevieve Glatsky Report contributions.
