More than 11,000 people have been forced to flee their homes due to clashes between armed groups in Colombia this year, a number equivalent to seven deportations per hour, the Latin American’s human rights commissioner said on Monday.
Organized crime gangs formed by far-right former paramilitaries, the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group and former FARC-EP rebel fighters rejecting the 2016 peace deal are also battling each other with security forces to control drug and illegal mining, especially in areas where they live. Afro-Colombians and Indigenous peoples, the Commissioner said in a statement.
They have been recorded “16 mass displacement in cities and 14 mass displacement in rural areas”, which “affected a total of 4,062 families, 11,150 people”, according to a statement from Commissioner Carlos Camargo.
“90%” of those displaced belong to communities or ethnicities in areas of Colombia that are bathed by the Pacific Ocean, according to the text.
Comparatively, in 2020 a total of 28,509 people were displaced within the country in 90 such large-scale incidents, according to the Commissioner.
Forty communities in the provinces of Choco, Cauca and Narino – all of which are bordered by the Pacific – have been “restricted” this year due to clashes between armed groups for territorial control, according to the commissioner.
Buanavedura, the city where Colombia’s main port on the Pacific Ocean is located, is particularly affected by the phenomenon of displacement: gangs are fighting to control drug trafficking by sea to the US.
“Incidents that terrorize the population are unfolding, such as” targeted killings, recruitment and use of children and adolescents, threats and, in general, practices of enslavement and population control, “according to the commissioner.
The government of President Ivan Duce has repeatedly said it will crack down on illegal armed groups, which it blames for the killings of human rights defenders and social activists and the wave of indiscriminate massacres.
The escalation of violence exposes President Duke to international criticism as well his government does not seem to want or be able to stop the bloodshed.
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