Rebel violence kills 60 people in Catatumbo

The death toll from attacks by a rebel group in Colombia’s Catatumbo region has risen to 60, the country’s human rights office said.

Rival factions have been competing for control of cocaine trafficking in the region, which is near the border with Venezuela, for years.

The Ombudsman’s Office said the latest acts of violence involved the National Liberation Army (ELN), the largest armed group still active in Colombia, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), which signed a peace treaty with the State. in 2016.

The attacks broke an uneasy truce between guerrilla groups, which had been in peace negotiations with the government.

The Ombudsman’s Office, a government agency that oversees the protection of citizens’ human and civil rights, previously reported that 40 had died in the violence.

He said many people, including community leaders and their families, faced a “special risk” of being kidnapped or killed at the hands of the ELN. He noted that 20 people had recently been kidnapped, half of whom were women.

The office said those killed included seven signatories of the peace treaty and Carmelo Guerrero, leader of the Association for Peasant Unity of Catatumbo (Asuncat), a local defense group.

Asuncat wrote on social media on Friday that Roger Quintero and Freiman Velásquez, members of its board of directors, had not been seen since the previous day and that he suspected they had been taken away by armed groups.

“Food shortages are beginning to be reported in some communities in the region, which is affecting local communities,” the Ombudsman’s Office wrote in a statement on Saturday, adding that thousands of people are believed to have been displaced by the violence. .

“Older people, children, adolescents, pregnant women and people with disabilities are suffering the consequences of these events.”

“Catatumbo is once again stained with blood,” wrote the Association of Mothers of Catatumbo for Peace on Friday.

“The bullets exchanged not only hurt those who wield the weapons, but also shatter the dreams of our communities, disintegrate families and sow terror in the ears of our children.”

The Ombudsman’s Office appeared to attribute the latest violence to the ELN, which had been in peace talks with the Colombian government until they were suspended on Friday due to the violence in Catatumbo.

President Gustavo Petro, who since his election in 2022 has sought to end violence between armed groups in the country, accused the ELN of “war crimes” and said the group “does not show the will to make peace.”

The ELN accused the FARC of having started the conflict by killing civilians in a statement on Saturday, according to the Reuters news agency. The FARC has not responded publicly to the accusation.

On Saturday, the Colombian military announced it would send additional troops to the region in an effort to restore peace.