Violence hits Colombia hard again.
At least 48 people have died in a clash between two linked illegal armed groups in a jungle area of the department of Guaviare, in the south-central part of the country, as reported this Thursday by military sources.
The figure makes the episode one of the most serious massacres recorded this year in the Colombian armed conflict.
And there is also a particularly worrying element: the authorities fear that among the deceased there may be minors recruited by these organizations.
A war within the dissidents themselves
The combats did not pit the Colombian Army against the guerrillas. This is an internal battle between two of the main factions that emerged after the demobilization of the FARC in 2016.
On the one hand there are the forces of the Central General Staff (EMC), directed by Néstor Gregorio Vera, alias “Iván Mordisco”, currently considered one of the most wanted men in Colombia.
Fighting in front of them were members of the General Staff of Blocks and Front (EMBF), led by Alexander Díaz Mendoza, alias “Calarcá.” Both groups have had a fierce dispute for months over territorial control of several strategic areas in the south of the country.
The fight for control of the jungle
According to information provided by the Army, The clashes occurred between the Armando Ríos group, linked to “Iván Mordisco”and the Isaías Carvajal structure, similar to “Calarcá”.
The scene of the combat was an area of difficult access in the department of Guaviare, a territory located between the Amazon and the Colombian Orinoquía. For decades this region has been one of the main strongholds of the former FARC guerrilla.
After the peace agreement signed in 2016, numerous dissidents occupied the abandoned spaces and continued to finance themselves through illegal activities such as: drug trafficking, illegal mining, extortion and control of strategic routes in the middle of the jungle. “There would allegedly be 48 lifeless bodies”
The magnitude of the tragedy has forced the launch of a special operation.
The Colombian Army explained that the initial information was provided by community leaders in the area. “According to the information provided by community leaders in the area, there were allegedly 48 lifeless bodies in the area,” military authorities said.
Recovering the bodies is especially complicated due to the remote location where the fighting occurred.
The authorities have coordinated an operation with the Government of Guaviare, the City Council of San José del Guaviare, the Ombudsman’s Office and the OAS Peace Process Support Mission to facilitate the extraction of the bodies.
The fear that there will be dead minors
One of the aspects that has generated the most alarm is the possibility that some of the victims are minors recruited by armed groups.
The Colombian Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez Suárez, publicly acknowledged that concern. “The crude criminal confrontation would have caused multiple fatalities, presumably corresponding to members of these illegal armed groups, among whom there could be minors”he stated.
The recruitment of children and adolescents continues to be one of the major problems facing the Colombian conflict, especially in rural regions where armed organizations maintain a strong presence.
A region trapped by violence
The massacre once again puts the spotlight on Guaviareone of the most complex areas of the country. Despite the peace agreement signed a decade ago, territorial control of large areas continues in the hands of illegal armed groups that compete for resources, drug trafficking routes and local power.
And it is not an isolated case.
In January of this same year, another confrontation between dissident factions in the same region It already left 26 dead. Now the figure has practically doubled.
And it once again shows that, ten years after the historic agreement with the FARCsome areas of Colombia They remain trapped in a spiral of violence that seems far from ending.
