More than 80 people have been killed in Colombia's northeastern region after failed attempts to hold peace talks with the National Liberation Army, a Colombian official said.
Twenty other people were injured, according to William Villamizar, the governor of Santander North, where many of the killings took place.
Among the victims is community leader Carmelo Guerrero and seven people who tried to sign a peace agreement, according to a report issued by the government's ombudsman group late Saturday.
Officials said the attacks took place in several towns in the Catatumbo region near the border with Venezuela, with at least three people who were part of the peace talks being kidnapped.
Thousands of people are fleeing the area, with some hiding in the nearby fertile mountains or seeking help at government shelters.
Daniel Becerril/REUTERS
The Colombian army rescued dozens of people on Sunday, including a family and their pet dog, whose owner held a pack of cold water against the animal's chest to keep it cool during the drive. via helicopter.
Defense Minister Iván Velásquez traveled to the northeastern city of Cúcuta on Sunday as officials prepared to send 10 tons of food and hygiene kits to about 5,000 people in the communities of Ocaña and Tibú, most of whom have fled from the violence.
“Catatumbo needs help,” Villamizar said in a public address on Saturday. “Boys, girls, young people, teenagers, whole families are showing up with nothing, riding trucks, dump trucks, motorcycles, whatever they can, on foot, so they don't suffer from this conflict.”
The attack comes after Colombia suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, on Friday, the second time they have done so in less than a year.
The Colombian government has demanded that the ELN stop all attacks and allow authorities to enter the region and provide humanitarian aid.
The ELN has been fighting in Catatumbo with former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a guerrilla group that disbanded after signing a 2016 peace deal with the Colombian government. The two are fighting over control of a strategic border area that has coca leaf plantations.
In a statement on Saturday, the ELN said it had warned former FARC members that “if they continued to attack the population…there was no other way out but armed conflict.” The ELN has been accusing ex-FARC rebels of several killings in the area, including the killing of a couple and their 9-month-old child on January 15.
The head of the army General Luis Emilio Cardozo Santamaría said on Saturday that authorities were securing a humanitarian corridor between Tibú and Cúcuta for those who had to flee their homes to safety. He said special urban troops had been sent to city capitals “where there is great danger and fear.”
The ELN has tried to negotiate a peace deal with the administration of President Gustavo Petro five times, with talks failing after violence. The ELN's demands include being recognized as a political rebel group, which critics have said is dangerous.
