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 fought for years for control of the cocaine trade in the region, located near the border with Venezuela.

The Ombudsman’s Office said the latest 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 the guerrilla groups, which had been in peace negotiations with the government.

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

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

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

Asuncat wrote on social media on Friday that Roger Quintero and Freiman Velasquez, members of its board of directors, had not been seen since the day before and that it suspected armed groups of having taken them.

“In some communities in the region, food shortages are beginning to be reported, affecting local communities,” the Ombudsman’s Office wrote in a statement on Saturday, adding that thousands of people were reportedly displaced by the violence.

“Elderly people, children, adolescents, pregnant women and people with disabilities suffer the consequences of these events.”

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

“The exchanged bullets not only hurt those who hold the guns, but also shatter the dreams of our communities, tear apart families, and strike terror into the hearts of our children.”

The Ombudsman’s Office appears to blame the latest violence on the ELN, which was 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 – has accused the ELN of “war crimes” and said the group “shows no desire to make peace “.

The ELN accused the Farc of starting the conflict by killing civilians in a statement released on Saturday, according to the Reuters news agency. The Farc has not publicly responded to this allegation.

On Saturday, the Colombian army announced the sending of additional troops to the region to try to restore peace.