30 killed in Colombia armed violence

BOGOTÁ: Thirty people have been killed in violence between rival left-wing groups near Colombia’s restive border with Venezuela, authorities said Friday, prompting the government to suspend peace talks with one guerilla group.

President Gustavo Petro declared a pause in already spluttering peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), accusing it of committing “war crimes” during a fresh wave of violence.

At least 30 people were killed and 20 injured when members of the ELN seemingly targeted Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissidents.

William Villamizar, governor of North Santander department, said the clashes began on Thursday and were caused by a “territorial dispute” linked to the cocaine trade.

For years, rival armed groups have fought over control of ultra-lucrative coca plantations that dot the Colombia-Venezuela border region and which fuel the world’s cocaine habit.

Officials spoke of ELN gunmen going “house to house” around the town of Tibu in search of people it believed related to the FARC.

The thousands-strong ELN remains one of the biggest of the armed groups still active in Colombia.

While claiming to be driven by nationalist and leftist ideology, the ELN is deeply involved in the drug trade and has become one of the region’s most powerful organised crime groups.

Public defender Iris Marín said preliminary reports indicated that “dozens” of families had been displaced by the violence and more than 20 people were missing.

‘Total peace’

Colombian soldiers poured into the area, spiriting some of the wounded out in helicopters and as the army’s 2nd Division tried to reimpose some semblance of order.

The latest violence is a security challenge for Colombia’s armed forces, who struggle to control all of the extremely rugged, mountainous and jungle-cloaked nation.

It is also a political setback for Petro, Colombia’s first-ever leftist president.

He has tied his political fate on a policy of “total peace”, launching peace talks with armed groups that are despised by many Colombians.

“We are suspending dialogue with this group, because the ELN shows no willingness to make peace,” Petro said.

Although the FARC signed a 2016 peace deal that ended more than 50 years of bloody insurgency, some guerillas have refused to put down arms.

Talks with the ELN broke down for several months last year after the group launched a deadly attack on a military base.