Heavy fighting between FARC and ELN in Colombia’s Arauca, border area with Venezuela

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Regional authorities of the Colombian department of Arauca, bordering Venezuela, denounced on Sunday fighting in several municipalities between FARC dissidents and guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) that left 17 people dead.

“I was able to have communication (…) with the governor and the information that the departmental government has spoken of 17 people killed,” the mayor of Arauquita, Etelivar Torres, told Noticias Caracol.

The official explained that he has received information from the community about deaths due to fighting in various parts of the department but that they are “information that we cannot say are official because any agency has not verified them”.

In this regard, the Ombudsman’s Office said that according to information gathered by its regional office, in the “last hours there have been homicides, threats, illegal detentions, massive displacements and risk of forced displacement in border municipalities, specifically in Tame, Fortul, Saravena, and Arauquita”.

It also expressed its “deep concern for the worsening of the armed conflict” in Arauca, an oil-producing department with a strong ELN presence, FARC dissidents, and drug trafficking gangs fighting for territorial control.

Meanwhile, the Office in Colombia of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for protecting the civilian population and the activation of contingency plans for these cases.

“We call to ensure respect for IHL and human rights, in particular, the protection of the civilian population; to activate the necessary contingency plans and measures to comply with the recommendations of the early warnings of the Ombudsman’s Office,” said the international organization.

In the same sense, the Mission to Support the Peace Process (MAPP/OAS) of the Organization of American States (OAS) stated.

“We strongly reject confrontations between illegal armed groups in Arauquita, Fortul, Saravena, and Tame. We urge these groups to respect IHL, implement humanitarian minimums and leave the civilian population out of the armed conflict.”

For its part, the Diocese of Arauca also requested respect for life and that “the civilian population be left out of the confrontations and hostilities, applying International Humanitarian Law in all areas”.

In addition, it requested civil authorities to “verify the facts and strive to protect the life and integrity of the population in the places where the confrontations are taking place”.