At least 39 people have been killed in violence involving left-wing guerrillas near Colombia’s restive border with Venezuela, authorities said on Friday, prompting the government to suspend high-stakes peace talks with the group.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro paused already-spluttering peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), accusing them of “war crimes” during a fresh wave of unrest.
In two separate incidents, ELN fighters targeted a rival leftist group and a powerful paramilitary criminal gang — destroying hopes that the group would voluntarily lay down arms.
Photo: AFP
In North Santander department, at least 30 people were killed and 20 injured when ELN fighters targeted dissident members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) across several villages and farms.
In nearby Bolivar department, nine people died in violence involving ELN fighters and the Clan del Golfo, a right-wing paramilitary force turned trafficking gang.
Officials in North Santander spoke of ELN gunmen going “house to house” in search of people believed to be linked to the FARC dissidents.
Coca grower Jose del Carmen Abril said guerillas “came to my house four times yesterday looking for me.”
They later issued an ultimatum to his community that “they had to hand me over dead,” he said, after being evacuated from the area by the army.
William Villamizar, governor of the department, said the violence began on Thursday and was caused by a “territorial dispute” linked to the cocaine trade.
For decades, armed groups have fought over control of ultra-lucrative coca plantations that dot the Colombia-Venezuela border region which fuel the world’s cocaine habit.
Public Defender Iris Marin said preliminary reports indicated that “dozens” of families had been displaced by the violence and more than 20 people were missing.
Giovanny Sanguino said two of his friends and their nine-month-old son were among the dead.
“To take the life of an entire family is atrocious. The people who committed this have no feelings,” he said.
The thousands-strong ELN is one of the biggest armed groups still active in Colombia. While claiming to be driven by leftist and nationalist ideology, the group is deeply involved in the drug trade and has become one of the region’s most powerful organized crime groups.
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