He National Government launched a military offensive against ELN guerrillas on the border with Venezuela that has been freeing a bloody attack that leaves more than 80 dead and 38,600 displaced.
“There was already a first combat of the army against members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) (…). The order is to take the territory“The Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquezfrom the border city of Cúcuta. Accompanied by high military commanders, Velásquez said that more than 9,000 troops are deployed in the area to contain a wave of violence that remembers the worst epochs of the Colombian armed conflict.
(You can read: Interior shock: the ABC of the new measure adopted by the Petro government).
The first fighting “They appeared yesterday (January 23) in the afternoon in the southeast of El Tarra“, in the border region of Catatumbodetailed from his side the Army Commander, Luis Emilio Cardozo.
Since January 16, thousands of people escape the war in the northeast of the country, where ELN rebels attack civilians and face FARC dissidents who did not sign peace in 2016.
Eln.
The Ombudsman He estimates that the current displacement is the largest since 1997, when the registration began. “Before finishing the first month of the year, the number of people affected by mass displacements in all 2024 was exceeded“When there were 25,611, the Defender Iris Medina This Friday.
(Further: Where will the internal commotion decreed by the national government apply?).
AFP journalists in these critical areas registered how guerrillas impose a terror regime to gain control of these strategic mountains for cocaine production, where until now the public force did not arrive. The order is “act with all our capabilities to submit them, so that this threat does not continue“Velásquez launched.
Cooperation of Venezuela
During the first week, the military forces had concentrated on rescuing the inhabitants of the critical areas in helicopters. Due to the onslaught, the President Gustavo Petro He suspended the peace negotiations with the ELN and declared the ‘state of internal shock’ in the Catatumbo.
The Prosecutor’s Office reactivated capture orders against the rebel dome. According to military intelligence “some of them“They could be in Venezuela. The Minister of Defense said he met with his Venezuelan couple, Vladimir Padrino, in the Venezuelan city of San Cristóbal, border with
Colombia.
(Keep reading: Colombia sees the catatumbo conflict as a lesson to direct the peace process).
“We are in strengthening the indispensable relations of military and police officers (…). Venezuela agrees to collaborate, it is willing“Velásquez said. The most populous areas of the Northern Department of Santander are transforming into huge camps of displaced people, who arrive with children and the elderly.
Army in the Catatumbo
The president’s ‘total peace’ policy has not achieved its goal of extinguishing the prolonged Colombian conflict and, instead, An escalation of violence in various parts of the country has left more than 100 dead in a week.
For the opposition, Petro is indulgent with illegal organizations, which has allowed them to strengthen themselves. In 2024, the displacements had decreased with respect to the previous year, with 54,665 people affected, according to defender Medina.
AFP
