Colombia clashes involving rebel faction kill 18, The government reported Sunday that at least 18 people were killed in confrontations in Colombia between remnants of the former rebel army FARC and another armed group associated with drug trafficking. The battle reportedly took place on Saturday in southwest Colombia, close to the Ecuadorian border, according to the government ombudsman’s office.
Colombia clashes involving rebel faction kill 18
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of colom’bia (FARC) and the government reached a peace accord in 2016, but the rebels have since rejected it. They also clashed with a gang known as the Border Commandos or Comandos de la Frontera. The latter is made up of former FARC rebels as well as survivors of a right-wing paramilitary organization involved in the trafficking of cocaine into Brazil and Ecuador.
For at least three years, the two organizations have battled for control of smuggling routes in certain areas of the Putumayo border region. The conflict on Saturday took place at Puerto Guzman, which is around 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Ecuador’s southern border, according to the office of the Ombudsman.
More than 50 years of violent warfare between the government and various leftist guerrilla, rightist paramilitary, and drug trafficking organizations have been experienced in colom’bia. After a four-year break, President Gustavo Petro’s administration will resume peace negotiations with the ELN, colom’bia’s final active rebel army, on Monday in Caracas.
The Carolina Ramirez Front, a far smaller breakaway FARC faction involved in combat on Saturday, and Petro’s administration have undertaken preliminary peace negotiations aimed at a cease-fire. In exchange for a bilateral truce, the faction stated that it would limit its attacks on security troops.