At least 80 dead, several kidnapped in Colombia after failed peace talks, official says

More than 80 people have been killed in Colombia’s northeastern region after failed attempts to hold peace talks with the National Liberation Army, a Colombian official said.

Twenty others were injured, according to William Villamizar, the governor of northern Santander, where many of the killings took place.

Among the victims were community leader Carmelo Guerrero and seven people who sought the signing of a peace accord, according to a report released Saturday night by the government’s ombudsman agency.

Officials said the attacks took place in several towns located in the Catatumbo region near the border with Venezuela, in which at least three people involved in peace talks were abducted.

Thousands of people are fleeing the area, with some hiding in nearby lush mountains or seeking help in government shelters.

The Colombian military rescued dozens of people on Sunday, including a family and their pet dog, whose owner held a bag of cold water to the animal’s chest to cool it down as they evacuated by helicopter.

Defense Minister Iván Velásquez traveled to the northeastern city of Cúcuta on Sunday as officials prepared to send 10 tons of food and hygiene packages to approximately 5,000 people in the communities of Ocaña and Tibú, most of whom fled the violence.

“Catatumbo needs help,” Villamizar said in a public address on Saturday. “Boys, girls, young people, teenagers, whole families show up with nothing, driving trucks, dump trucks, motorcycles, whatever they can, on foot, to avoid being victims of this conflict.”

The attack comes after Colombia suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) on Friday, the second time it has done so in less than a year.

The Colombian government demanded that the ELN cease all attacks and allow the authorities to enter the region and provide humanitarian aid.

In Catatumbo, the ELN is clashing with former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a guerrilla group that disbanded after signing a 2016 peace deal with the Colombian government. The two are fighting over control of a strategic border area that has coca leaf plantations.

In a statement on Saturday, the ELN said it had warned former FARC members that if they “continue to attack the population … there is no other way out but armed conflict.” The ELN has accused former FARC rebels of several killings in the area, including the killing of a couple and their 9-month-old baby on January 15.

Army chief General Luis Emilio Cardozo Santamaría said on Saturday that authorities were strengthening the humanitarian corridor between Tibú and Cúcuta for the safe passage of those forced to flee their homes. He said special urban units were also deployed in municipal capitals “where there are risks and a lot of fear”.

The ELN tried five times to negotiate a peace agreement with the administration of President Gustavo Petar, and the talks collapsed after an attack of violence. The ELN’s demands include being recognized as a political rebel organization, which critics have said is risky.