Recent Violence in Colombia

03/04/11
Latin America and the Caribbean

Caldas

Cauca

Norte de Santander

Risaralda

  • Antioquia

     

  • CAMPAMENTO: The military denounced an attack on a school in Campamento Wednesday morning that they attributed to the FARC. No one was hurt in the attack because students were not in classes, but damage was reported at the Chorros Blancos school and seven nearby homes.
  • VITERBO, BELALCÁZAR, ANSERMA: Police captured nine presumed members of the criminal group “La Cordillera” in the cities of Viterbo, Belalcázar, and Anserma, according to an article published Wednesday in El Tiempo. The alleged members were identified by their aliases, “Pichis”, “Monorino”, “Gurí”, “Pisbur”, “Coco”, “El mono Villa”, “Guatín”, “Alexis” and “Care lápida” and range in age from 18-40 years old. “La Cordillera” operates primarily in the cities of Pereira and Dosquebradas, the latter of which is located in the department of Risaralda, authorities told El Tiempo.
  • CALOTO: Four police officers and two civilians were killed Tuesday, in a shootout with unknown assailants in Caloto. The assailants were after remittances being transported by helicopter in southwestern Colombia. Among the victims were the police chief and deputy police chief of Caloto.
  • MICAY RIVER: A canoe navigating the Micay River was attacked by the FARC Sunday, killing the navigator and a marine and leaving three more marines wounded. The navigator, a peasant from the area, was not found until Monday and his identity is unknown. The marine killed was identified as leading seaman Raúl Mosquera Suárez and the three injured were identified as Léider Riascos Riascos, Luis Miranda Macías and Samir Augusto Márquez Méndez, who were transferred to Buenaventura for treatment. The investigation revealed that the explosive had been detonated remotely.
  • HERRÁN: A weapons cache was found by the army in a rural area of Herrán, El Tiempo reported Tuesday. The weapons are said by military intelligence to be part of the FARC’s "Resistencia Barí".
  • SAN PABLO: An attack on a medical mission in San Pablo is being attributed to the FARC, according to an article published in El Tiempo Tuesday morning. Department police chief, coronel Carlos Enrique Villadiego, told the newspaper that the guerrillas intended to kidnap the doctor, nurse, and ambulance driver in order to care for two rebels injured in a confrontation between the FARC and the ELN. The guerillas still managed to take medical equipment and other supplies necessary to care for the injured.
  • PEREIRA: A member of the FARC who was used as a model in the group’s propaganda publications, Jhasmit Andrea Vélez Moncada, was captured by the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) over the weekend in Pereira. The rebel, alias “Feliener” or “Felina”, who was recruited by the group when she was 15, demobilized in 2007, but was arrested after authorities discovered her involvement in several attacks while a member of the rebel group, including one in Chocó in 2005 in which eight people died and four were kidnapped.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea