Attacks by ELN rebels in the Catatumbo region have forced thousands of people to flee the region.
More than 80 people have been killed in just three days in northeastern Colombia following failed attempts at peace negotiations with National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, an official said.
The ELN launched an attack last Thursday in the Catatumbo region in the northeast of the country against a rival group made up of former members of the now-defunct armed group FARC, which continued to fight after its disarmament in 2017.
Civilians were stuck in the middle and by Sunday it was estimated that “more than 80 people had lost their lives,” said Gov. William Villamizar of the Norte de Santander department that includes Catatumbo.
The latest death toll on Saturday was estimated at 60 people, including seven former fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in five municipalities in the cocaine-producing mountainous region near the border with Venezuela.
The victims included community leader Carmelo Guerrero and seven people who were seeking to sign a peace deal, according to a report released Saturday evening by the government mediation agency.
Thousands of people are fleeing the region, some hiding in the nearby lush mountains or seeking help at government shelters.
Villamizar said about two dozen people were injured and some 5,000 displaced during the outbreak of violence, and called the resulting humanitarian situation “alarming.”
“Catatumbo needs help,” Villamizar said in a public speech Saturday.
“Boys, girls, young people, adolescents, entire families arrive with nothing, aboard trucks, dump trucks, motorcycles, on foot, as best they can, to avoid being victims of this confrontation. “
The army said more than 5,000 troops had been sent to the region to “enhance security”.
Army commander Gen. Luis Emilio Cardozo Santamaria said Saturday that authorities were strengthening a humanitarian corridor between Tibu and Cucuta to allow the safe passage of people forced to flee their homes. He said special urban soldiers have also been deployed to municipal capitals “where there are risks and a lot of fear.”
The FARC disarmed under a peace deal reached in 2016 after more than half a century of war.
However, the agreement has failed to quell violence involving left-wing groups, including FARC resistance fighters, right-wing paramilitaries and drug cartels, around resources and trafficking routes in parts of the country. .
The ELN has accused ex-FARC rebels of several killings in the region, including the January 15 killing of a couple and their nine-month-old baby.
In a statement Saturday, the ELN said it had warned former FARC members that if they “continued to attack the population… there would be no other outcome than armed confrontation.”
In recent days, the ELN has also clashed with the Gulf Clan, the largest drug cartel in the world’s largest cocaine producer, leaving at least nine dead in another part of northern Colombia.
The latest violence prompted President Gustavo Petro on Friday to abandon negotiations with the ELN in his quest for “total peace” for this violence-ravaged country.
