Army patrols municipality in Arauca, Colombia, after reports of ELN presence

The clashes in Arauca would have started in Venezuela 1:40

(CNN Spanish) ––

Troops of the Colombian Army have been in the village of La Esmeralda, in the municipality of Arauquita in Arauca, since early Monday morning, after images of alleged members of the Liberation Army circulated on social networks on Sunday. Nacional (ELN) walking through the streets of that place.

The "Public Force will not stop in the mission of protecting and defending democracy. United, without truce, without rest, without taking a step back, with facts," the National Army said on its Twitter account along with a video on the that three soldiers are seen.

One of them relates in the clip that they are in La Esmeralda to guarantee the population their right to mobility and rejects "the message of terror to intimidate the Araucanian people."

• Clashes between FARC and ELN dissidents in Arauca, Colombia, leave 23 dead

This Monday, President Iván Duque wrote on his Twitter account: "While ELN terrorism wanted to carry out armed propaganda in a cowardly manner, since dawn, troops from our @COL_EJERCITO have been present and have territorial control in the village of 'La Esmeralda' , municipality of Arauquita, Arauca".

On Sunday, Duque led a meeting in Arauca in which actions were announced to strengthen security in the department that shares a border with Venezuela.

Among the measures, he highlighted the displacement of 700 uniformed special operations personnel with the aim of capturing and dismantling the FARC and ELN dissidents.

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Arauca is an oil and agricultural department where the ELN's Eastern War Front has settled, which maintains a dispute with two FARC dissident fronts for control of illicit economies.

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