Colombia: Arauca Massacre Death Toll Rises to 27

A member of an armed group, Colombia. | Photo: Twitter/ @napoleonbravo

Published 6 January 2022

Police preliminary reports indicate that the victims were forced to leave their homes, shot dead at close range, and their bodies abandoned in places far from their homes.

As of Wednesday, Colombian Prosecutor Office had found 27 bodies of victims of paramilitary groups’ violent clashes in the Fortul, Saravena, Arauquita, and Cubara towns in the Arauca department. 

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Police preliminary reports indicate that the victims were forced to leave their homes, shot dead at close range, and their bodies abandoned in places far from their homes. Currently, Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Institute (IMLCF) performs necropsies to confirm such theory.

So far, the IMLCF has identified 21 of the victims, amongst whom are two women, two minors, and four Venezuelan migrants. Attorney General Francisco Barbosa called on specialized prosecutors and police agents to work together to investigate the crime and apprehend the murderers.

Armed groups have historically been present in the Arauca since the limited presence of the State in this department allows them to control drug trafficking routes, increase cocaine production, and extort money from the civilian population.

On Wednesday, over 600 soldiers arrived in Puerto Nariño, La Esmeralda, Aguachica, La Paz, and El Botalon towns to strengthen the security of these regions.

Farmers communities and human rights organizations criticized this policy, which they argued will not solve the problem of violence or extortion against the civilian population.

“What President Ivan Duque's administration should enhance are development plans, social investment, and policies that ensure compliance with the Peace Agreement signed in 2016 by the Colombian State and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Only this way, we will solve this structural problem,” they stressed.