By Nelson Bocanegra
CONDOTO, Colombia (Reuters) – More than a hundred residents of Colombia’s northwestern municipality of Condoto gathered over the weekend to plead with government officials for help amid fighting between rebels and criminal groups that has driven thousands from their homes.
The most recent outbreak of violence was unleashed when the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) declad an “armed strike” in the department of Choco on February 18, warning people they could be detained, imprisoned or shot if they venture outside.
“We are tired of this,” said Maria, a 38-year-old woman who fled her home last week with her two small children as the violence escalated. “No one cares about what is happening to us. We are lost, and without food.”
The situation in Choco is similar to the crisis unfolding in Colombia’s Catatumbo region, near the eastern border with Venezuela. There, the ELN has been accused of targeting former members of the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and civilian community leaders in a series of attacks. The violence has killed some 80 people and forced more than 8,000 people to flee their homes.
The escalation of violence prompted President Gustavo Petro to suspend peace negotiations with the ELN, curtailing a key part of his plan to end a six-decade internal conflict. The ELN has denied attacking civilians.
In Chocó, the ELN is battling a powerful crime gang known as the Clan del Golfo, as well as some FARC dissidents, for control of the territory, which is a considered a strategic region for drug trafficking and illegal gold mining.
The armed groups have also sowed large swaths of the department with anti-personnel land mines, authorities say, which prevents farmers from accessing their land in the largely rural region.
“It’s a tragedy,” said Lilia Solano, director of the national government’s Victims Unit, which is responsible for ensuring that victims of conflict receive reparations.
“The number of victims keeps growing, and we’re reaching a moment where it is impossible to help everyone.”
(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra in Condoto, Colombia; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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