Three massacres with at least 10 victims in recent days in Colombia

Colombia reports an increase in violence in recent days. This weekend alone, three new massacres were registered, raising the number to 71 so far in 2022 and 10 after the entry of the new government.

For the same period last year, 68 massacres had been reported, according to the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz).

The Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, told the Caracol Television channel that the new government is taking different measures to improve security and “make a presence throughout the national territory.”

“We have moved with the President of the Republic himself to Catatumbo, a highly attacked area; Ituango, in the north of Antioquia; north and south of Cauca and the south of Bolívar,” he added.

Violence against indigenous

The first massacre this weekend occurred last Friday on a road that leads to an indigenous reservation in the department of Nariño, in the southwest of the country.

There, three social leaders from the Panán and Chiles indigenous reservations were killed by armed men, who intercepted them and opened fire on them.

“From the Indigenous Authorities of Colombia (Aico) we publicly reject and condemn these barbaric acts of fear and anxiety for the murder of our fellow community members of the indigenous reservations of Panán and Chiles,” the Aico said in a press release.

This organization denounced that human rights violations against indigenous people in Colombia are systematic and that it does not only happen in this region, but throughout the country.

It is not yet known who was behind the crime. The indigenous authorities ask the national government to investigate and capture those responsible. Similarly, they called for greater protection of indigenous peoples.

The complaint about another massacre that would have been registered in the same department was also known. Presumably four men would have been murdered, however, the authorities have not confirmed the veracity of the news.

Overflowing violence on the Colombian-Venezuelan border

The second massacre in recent days was recorded this Saturday in Cúcuta, the main border crossing with Venezuela.

Indepaz reported the murder of four men. According to witness statements, unknown individuals arrived at a car workshop where the victims were and shot at them.

The Colombian Ombudsman’s Office issued two strong warnings about the risks faced by the inhabitants of the city of Cúcuta, due to the constant clashes between illegal armed groups operating in the area.

This is currently one of the areas hardest hit by violence in Colombia, due to its proximity to the Catatumbo region, the region where coca is grown the most in the world.

With 40,000 hectares of production, it becomes the favorable space for the confrontation between illegal groups for control of drug trafficking, say the National Liberation Army (ELN), the 33rd front of the FARC dissidents, a redoubt of the Popular Army of Liberation (EPL), among others.

In addition, its proximity to the Venezuelan border, the former breakdown of diplomatic relations and the lack of articulation with the Venezuelan security and leadership entities, has made it a propitious place for members of these gangs to seek refuge on the other side of the border. the border, increasing violence in the area.

Violence is also recorded in large cities

On Sunday morning, three people were murdered in a neighborhood in the city of Barranquilla, one of the most important in the country. The victims were in a nightclub when they were attacked by two men from a motorcycle.

According to the local newspaper El Heraldo, two of the men who were killed were street food and hot drink vendors and another was a taxi driver, both of whom died immediately after the attack.

There is still no more information about the event, but according to the authorities’ hypothesis, it could be a reckoning.

Gustavo Petro proposes a ceasefire against illegal armed groups

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who took office a little less than a month ago, proposed this Saturday a multilateral ceasefire to all illegal armed groups operating in the country, as part of a strategy to promote peace.

According to Petro, several groups outside the law have expressed their intention to seek an end to the armed confrontation. According to the president, this could attract “the most appropriate climate to achieve the social force necessary to legitimize the definitive end of armed violence.”

The 62-year-old head of state intends to seek “total peace” in the country. Days after his possession, Petro sent a delegation to Cuba to try to re-establish talks with the ELN negotiators, which were suspended in 2018 by the Duque administration.

Similarly, Petro’s plan seeks to dialogue with the FARC dissidents, who rejected the 2016 peace agreement.

It is also planned to seek a dialogue that allows the disarmament of the Clan del Golfo, one of the most violent criminal drug gangs in Colombia.

Between 1985 and 2018 alone, the internal armed conflict in Colombia left at least 450,000 dead, most of them civilians, and although security has improved considerably with the signing of the Havana agreements, there is still a long way to go.

With EFE and local media