Colombia is once again plunged into chaos and violence

At least 27,435 people were displaced in Colombia in the first quarter of the year, up 177% from the corresponding period in 2020, due to the resurgence of violence in the Latin American country, the Ombudsman, an independent public authority, announced yesterday Monday.

From 1 January to 31 March, There were 65 “mass displacements”, almost double the 35 recorded in the first three months of 2020, said the body responsible for the protection of human rights.

Basic causes were homicides, forced recruitment by armed groups, threats, placement of explosives such as anti-personnel mines, and fighting between guerrillas, security forces and / or gangs who trade in drugs, according to the same source.

Colombia, which has been plagued by civil war for some 60 years, hoped it would turn the page when a peace deal was signed between the former FARC and the government in 2016. ten years after the disarmament and dissolution, at least in theory, of far-right paramilitary organizations.

Recently, however, a new round of violence has hit isolated areas, with groups claiming control of former strongholds of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) growing exponentially.

The United Nations on Monday condemned “violence against communities, human rights defenders, social and community leaders, and former FARC fighters that has worsened in recent weeks.”

He spoke in particular about the seven killings of former guerrillas in eight days.

According to Comunes, the party to which the FARC was transformed after its disarmament and dissolution, 271 former guerrillas have been killed since 2016.

The independent Indepaz Observatory, for its part, has already recorded 31 massacres (simultaneously killing at least three people, as defined by the UN) with 116 dead since the beginning of the year. It recorded 91 massacres throughout 2020.

On Sunday, five people were killed by gunmen on a coffee plantation in Antioch (northwest).

In the extremely complicated civil conflict in Colombia, which has lasted for almost six decades – since 1958 – counted more than nine million victims: 260,000 dead, mostly civilians, more than 70,000 missing and millions displaced, according to calculations of the National Center for Historical Memory.

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