Armed groups rule in southern Colombia.
Around 25,000 people have been confined for ten days and risk running out of food in indigenous villages in the Colombian Amazon due to threats from FARC dissidents, the local governor said on Thursday.
In the municipalities of Solano and Milan, “a confrontation is imminent” between the Central Staff (EMC) and the “Segunda Marquetalia”, indicated on national radio the governor of the Caqueta Department, Luis Francisco Ruiz.
These two rival armed groups are both dissidents of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), a Marxist guerrilla dismantled since the signing of a historic peace agreement signed in 2016. With leaflets, as well as audios and videos broadcast on social networks, the rebels prohibit residents from moving.
“We can’t sleep”
“We feel fear, anguish, anxiety (…) We cannot sleep,” said a local community leader who preferred to remain anonymous by telephone.
“It is very dangerous to go out.”
Audio attributed to a suspected guerrilla leader has been circulating since last week.
“No one is allowed to walk along the river (…) For fear that innocent people fall into it (…) Everyone stay calm,” warns this recording, which AFP was unable to verify. 'authenticity.
“There is a restriction of mobility on the Orteguaza and Caqueta rivers that mainly harms” two indigenous communities located near the triple border between Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, explained Governor Ruiz.
“This affects around 25,000 people, isolated by restrictions on rivers in an area where the only access is currently by water.”
Over the last ten days, only “two barges (…) with non-perishable foodstuffs” have been able to enter this area.
For the rest, there is “no commercial transport mobility”, he lamented.
The governor joined the call launched Monday by indigenous organizations, who asked President Gustavo Petro for "immediate solutions to the permanent encirclement, threats and attacks on the free movement of communities" in the region. .