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A confrontation between two illegal armed groups in an indigenous reservation in the Colombian department of Nariño, border with Ecuador, left at least three dead and two injured, official sources reported this Saturday.
The commander of the Southwest Joint Command Number 2, General Álvaro Vicente Pérez, told reporters that the confrontation occurred in the village of Inda Sabaleta, inhabited mainly by indigenous people from the Awá community and located in the municipality of Tumaco. “When these confrontations were taking place, troops from the Hercules Joint Task Force arrive at the scene of the events where a combat later takes place. As a result of this combat, the apprehension of a minor is achieved, from whom a large quantity of war material, quartermaster and explosives was seized “, the officer detailed.
He also pointed out that the military found the bodies of “three adults of the male sex and two people injured as a result of these confrontations” between the self-proclaimed Oliver Sinisterra Front, a dissident from the Farc that did not accept the peace agreement, and a group known as The accountants. “These confrontations occur precisely because of the dispute over the illicit economies in the sector. In the village of Inda Sabaleta there are approximately 10,600 hectares of coca leaf crops, “added General Pérez.
(Read also: What has been the impact of the armed conflict on the health of the country)
These confrontations occur precisely because of the dispute over the illicit economies in the sector
NGO complaint
On the other hand, the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective (Cajar) denounced that the confrontation left five dead, two injured and some 40 people held by the Oliver Sinisterra Front. “In the Inda Sabaleta Awá reservation, located in the rural area of Tumaco, there is the presence and confrontation of armed groups. There are five people dead and the ‘Oliver Sinisterra Front’ took 40 members of the community, humanitarian action is urgent, the community is terrified “, warned Cajar. Added: “Until noon, the area was cordoned off by the National Army and did not allow the taking of the Awá reservation by one of the armed groups. However, at this time there is no longer a presence of the public force and families still remain confined for fear of leaving or without the possibility of temporarily moving to a place to protect their lives. ”He also indicated that the whereabouts of the detained persons is unknown.
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Collective Courtesy of Lawyers
Dissidents from the Farc, the National Liberation Army (Eln) and bands of paramilitary origin operate in the department of Nariño dedicated to drug trafficking and grouped in the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), called by the Government as the Clan del Golfo.
Oliver Sinisterra is a dissident organization of the former Farc guerrilla and linked to drug trafficking that operates in the north of Ecuador and in the south of Colombia. This group is attributed the kidnapping and subsequent murder in 2018 of three members of a team from the Ecuadorian newspaper ‘El Comercio’.
EFE
