Colombia’s ‘Peace Dividend’ Isn’t Paying Off

Colombia’s ‘Peace Dividend’ Isn’t Paying Off
Colombian navy soldiers stand guard near the Arauca River, the natural border with Venezuela, in Arauquita, Colombia, March 26, 2021 (AP photo by Fernando Vergara).

BOGOTA, Colombia—Violent confrontations on the Colombian-Venezuelan border between leftist armed groups with roots in the Colombian civil war have left at least 27 dead and an unknown number of people displaced or confined to their homes since fighting began on Jan 2. 

The 10th Front—a dissident group that splintered from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC—has been engaged in a simmering conflict with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, in the Arauca region of Colombia since at least last year. But the recent fighting represents a serious escalation between the two groups.

Investigators at Human Rights Watch have received reports of kidnappings, killings of civilians, displacements and forced confinement as a result of the fighting. Meanwhile, both the Venezuelan and Colombian governments, which severed diplomatic relations in 2019, have announced troop deployments to the border region in response to the violence.

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