At least 80 dead amid fresh violence in Colombia

At least 80 people have died and more than 11,000 have been forced to flee their homes in Colombia after fierce fighting between two rival armed groups broke out on the border with Venezuela.

The violence in the northeastern region of Catatumbo is some of the worst in the country in recent years, raising fears that the country is moving in the opposite direction to “total peace” – prioritized by the country’s leftists. President Gustavo Petro, who is more than halfway through his four-year term.

Colombian leader They visited the region. On Friday, he wrote on X that his government “stands with the people of Katambo”. He sent troops and humanitarian aid.

Displaced families are sheltering in a stadium in the border town of Cucuta, known for hosting Venezuelan refugees in recent years. In some places, Colombians are fleeing to Venezuela — home to its own humanitarian crisis — and Venezuela’s autocratic leader, Nicolas Maduro, has promised to send them aid.

The Catatumbo conflict is a far cry from what some parts of Colombia hoped for a decade ago, when the country signed a peace deal with the main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The country has suffered decades of internal conflict, with left-wing guerrilla groups, including the FARC. Paramilitary organizations, and the government, fight for control of the country and for lucrative industries such as drug trafficking.

In the year The 2016 accord saw thousands of FARC fighters lay down their arms and felt like a seismic moment in one of the world’s most violent countries at the time. But old rebel groups, including the National Liberation Army, or LN, persisted, while new ones emerged, all fighting for control of state and industry left behind by the FARC.

In some cases, these new groups included former FARC fighters, and they split and splintered, helping fuel a more complicated conflict.

Catatumbo is home to an extensive coca plantation in Coca. Two groups control the territory, the LN and the 33rd Front, a group of former FARC members, said the head of the Colombian army, General Luis Emilio Cardozo. Speaking to reporters at the end of the week.

An unexpected truce broke out between the two groups last week. General Cardozo said there had been four or five clashes between the groups in recent days, and in other cases, armed militants were going door-to-door targeting former FARC fighters they suspected of being members of the 33rd Front.

“It was a very organized crime,” he said.

In response to the violence, Mr. Petro broke off ongoing peace talks with the LN.

While the military was distracted, a separate conflict broke out in recent days between two former FARC factions in Guaviar, in south-central Colombia. According to the country’s ombudsman institution.

Organizations, including the International Crisis Group, have warned for years that the country’s security situation has been worsening since 2016 according to the European calendar, and that it could explode into violence at any time.

“We are very concerned about that time now.” Elizabeth Dickinson said.Analyst for a non-profit organization based in Colombia. “It has taken the conflict to a dangerous tipping point with multiple fronts clashing.”

Ms. Dickinson called the scale of the conflict in Guaviar “significant,” and said it had the potential to spread to many parts of southern Colombia. She added that there are “many children” in armed groups in that region.

The clashes along the border with Venezuela in northern Catatumbo come amid rising tensions between Mr Petro and Mr Maduro, who have given LN members a safe haven.

Both Mr. Petro and Mr. Maduro call themselves leftists, and just two years ago, the two were shaking hands in Caracas and promising more productive relations.

But many countries agree that Mr. Petro has blamed the opposition in recent weeks for shutting down the opposition and refusing to release the results of a presidential election that Mr. Maduro says he won. A senior opposition leader.

That has sparked outrage from Mr Maduro, who has accused Mr Petro and other leaders of meddling in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that it was monitoring eight separate armed conflicts in Colombia last year.

On Sunday evening, the Ombudsman, Iris Marin, 11,000 people said They were evacuated in Katumbo for four days, including many children. William Villamizar, governor of northern Santander, the border department, said the death toll had reached more than 80.

Ms. Marin said the attack was “one of the worst, if not the worst, humanitarian crisis Catatumbo has ever faced.”

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

Federico Rios contributed reporting.