At least 80 dead in Colombia amid a new wave of violence

At least 80 people have died and more than 11,000 have been forced to flee their homes in Colombia, officials said, amid violent clashes between two rival armed groups on the border with Venezuela.

The violence, which occurred in a northeastern region of the country called Catatumbo, is some of the worst the country has suffered in recent years, raising fears that the country is moving in the opposite direction of “comprehensive peace” — a goal that the country’s leftists have made a priority. President Gustavo Petro, who has served more than half of his four-year term.

Colombian leader Visited the area On Friday, he wrote in X that his government “stands with the people of Catatumbo.” He also sent troops and humanitarian aid.

Displaced families take shelter in a playground in Cúcuta, a border town that has become known in recent years for receiving Venezuelan migrants. In some places, Colombians are fleeing to Venezuela – the home of its humanitarian crisis – and the authoritarian Venezuelan leader there, Nicolas Maduro, has promised to send them aid.

The clashes in Catatumbo represent a stark departure from the hope that swept parts of Colombia less than a decade ago, when the country signed a peace deal with its largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The nation has suffered through decades of internal conflict, with leftist armed groups, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia; Paramilitary organizations and the government fight for control of the country and for lucrative industries such as drug trafficking.

Thousands of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) fighters laid down their arms in the 2016 agreement, and at the time it seemed like a seismic moment for one of the world’s most violent countries. But old rebel groups, including the National Liberation Army, continued to persist, while new groups emerged Fighting for control of territory and industry Left by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

In some cases, composed of former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) fighters, these new groups have splintered and split into subsections, helping to fuel an increasingly complex conflict.

Catatumbo is home to vast fields of coca, the plant that is the primary producer of cocaine. Gen. Luis Emilio Cardoso, commander of the Colombian army, said two groups control the area, the National Liberation Army and a group of former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia called the 33rd Front. Speaking to reporters During the weekend.

The fragile peace between the two groups collapsed last week. General Cardoso said there had been four or five clashes between the groups in recent days, and in other cases armed fighters were moving from house to house, targeting former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) fighters suspected of being part of the 33rd Front.

He said: “It was a very well-planned criminal operation. They went with a list to look for people they wanted to kill.

In response to the violence, Mr. Petro suspended ongoing peace talks with the ELN.

With the military distracted, a separate conflict broke out in recent days between two former FARC groups in Guaviare, a province in the south-central part of Colombia. According to the country’s Ombudsman’s Office.

Organizations, including the International Crisis Group, have warned for years that the security situation in the country has deteriorated since 2016 and could turn violent at any moment.

“We are very concerned that this moment is now.” Elizabeth Dickinson saida Colombia-based analyst for a non-profit organization. “The escalation on various fronts has taken the conflict to a very dangerous inflection point.”

Ms. Dickinson described the scale of the conflict in Guaviare as “very large” and said it could spread across several provinces in southern Colombia. She added that there isMany childrenAmong the armed groups in that region.

The clashes in Catatumbo, in the north, on the border with Venezuela, come amid growing tensions between Mr. Petro and Mr. Maduro, who Providing safe haven To the members of the National Liberation Army.

Both Mr. Petro and Mr. Maduro call themselves leftists Just two years agoThe two were shaking hands in Caracas and promising more productive relations.

But Mr. Petro has become more critical of the autocrat in recent weeks, rebuking him for imprisoning political opponents and refusing to publish the results of the latest presidential election, which Mr. Maduro claimed he won, but many countries agree the presidential election was actually won. One of the senior opposition leaders.

This angered Mr. Maduro, who accused Mr. Petro and other leaders of meddling in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said last year that it was monitoring eight different armed conflicts inside Colombia.

On Sunday night, the country’s ombudsman, Iris Marin, 11,000 people said They were displaced to Katotombo in just four days, including many children. William Villamizar, governor of the border province of North Santander, said the death toll had risen to more than 80 people.

Ms. Marin said the violence amounted to “one of the largest and most serious humanitarian crises Catatumbo has faced, if not the worst.”

She blamed the conflict on “a few people” in the region and called on them to end it. “These few people have the power to stop suffering.”

Federico Rios contributed reporting.