Colombian Ombudsman’s Office confirms 27 deaths, contradicts Attorney General’s Office’s version

RIO DE JANEIRO; BRAZIL – The Colombian Ombudsman’s Office confirmed on Thursday the death of 27 people during the violent events in the departments of Boyacá and Arauca, the latter bordering Venezuela, and maintains that there was a confrontation between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which contradicts the version of the Attorney General’s Office that assures that there was no fighting but hired assassination.

The Ombudsman’s Office previously stated that it had maintained “a permanent presence in the field” since January 2, when it learned of the armed confrontation in the rural areas of Tame, Saravena, Arauquita, Fortul, all in Arauca, and Cubará, in Boyacá.

The institution detailed that it has monitored the human rights situation in Arauca “due to the confrontation between the ELN and the dissidents of the FARC“, which does not correspond with the data of the Attorney General’s Office, which maintains that there are indications of homicides by hired killings and alleges that there was no fighting. Hence, it holds only the guerrilla group responsible for the facts.

In its brief report, shared on social networks, the Ombudsman’s Office confirmed the figure of 27 deaths already given by the Attorney General’s Office and added that “the bodies are in the morgues of Tame and Saravena”.

The Ombudsman’s Office does not refer to the other points alluded to by the Prosecutor’s Office, which claims that several people were taken from their homes, taken to Venezuela, killed there, and returned to Colombia. So far, Caracas has not commented on the matter.

Displacement

The Ombudsman’s Office also refers to displacement, a recurrent problem in Colombia due to clashes within rural populations and indigenous reservations, whose inhabitants are forced to leave their communities due to threats and risks to their security.

So far, the number managed by the agency is 28 families who have been forced to flee their homes: six have been displaced to Tame, seven to Saravena, thirteen to Arauquita, and one to Fortul, where intra-urban displacement has also been registered. In addition, the Tame ombudsman reports that another 60 families have been displaced to that municipality.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan military authorities reported that on the other side of the Arauca river, in the Venezuelan state of Apure, members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) and civilian personnel received a group of people coming from Arauquita. At the beginning of the week, the neighboring country announced that it would deploy its troops in the border area and respond with “forcefulness” to any aggression.

In its tweets, the Ombudsman’s Office assures that it has “evidenced that more people have been gradually displaced to different places in the urban centers” and that “the imminent risk of more displacements continues”.

Since 2019 the Ombudsman’s Office issued early alert 029 to warn about homicides in Tame, Fortul, Saravena, and Arauquita, in addition to the “risk of threats and illegal detentions, recruitment of children and adolescents and forced displacement”.

With information from RT