Update: Violence in Colombia Share This /

Antioquia

• MEDELLÍN: The Central Directorate of Judicial Police and Intelligence (Dijin) captured Juan Esteban Sanmartín Rodríguez, alias “Sergio” or “Mateo” in Medellín, El Tiempo reported Friday. Dijin ran several operations in Meta and Caucasia to capture Sanmartín before he was finally captured in the Antioquia department. He is believed to be the third in command of “Los Rastrojos” and authorities believe he is responsible for at least 14 murders over the past few months, a product of the ongoing turf battle between “Los Rastrojos” and “Los Urabeños.”
• ITUANGO: A 27-year-old farmer, Jorge Luis Simanca Durango, was reported dead Thursday after stepping on a landmine in Ituango, in the Antioquia department. An unidentified 17-year-old was injured in the blast and was cared for by military doctors.
• ITUANGO: Twelve presumed members of the 18th front of the FARC in Antioquia were captured on Wednesday, including a former councilman and a former Ituango municipal official.

Cauca

• According to an article published Monday in El Tiempo, Cauca is the department most fought over by the FARC. In the past two years, Cauca has seen 187 registered attacks and hostilities by the 6th front of the FARC, which operates in the zone.
• MIRANDA: Three policemen were killed and one lieutenant was injured in a shooting Sunday afternoon in Miranda, in the Cauca department. The attack on the police patrol is being attributed to the 6th front of the FARC, presumably in retaliation for the bombing of one of their camps Saturday in rural Tacueyó, which left 15 suspected guerrillas dead and 2 wounded. The policemen killed were identified as Jhon Palacios, Julián Sulez and Jualián Pérez Gallego.
• TORIBIO: Security forces led an attack on a camp of the FARC’s 6th front Saturday in the municipality of Toribio that left 15 suspected rebels dead. 138 National Police Special Forces and Air Force pilots participated in the operation in which they discovered 14 rifles, 20 grenades, 3 cell phones, 4 sim cards, military uniforms and documents currently being analyzed by police intelligence. At least 210 attacks on security forces and civilians have been attributed to the 6th front.

Huila

• NEIVA: A grenade explosion in Neiva, a city in the Huila department, left four police officers wounded Wednesday. Unknown assailants launched the grenade at the police truck around 8:45 p.m. The injured policemen were transported to Policlínica and Hospital Universitario de Neiva for care. Two hours later, another grenade was found by authorities.

La Guajira

• MAICAO: The FARC bombed a portion of a gas pipeline belonging to PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company, in the rural area of Maicao, a part of the La Guajira department, Saturday night. The attack, attributed to the 59th front of the FARC affected 25 meters of pipeline and was expected to suspend gas exports to Venezuela for three or four days. Army troops patrolled the area to ensure that no more minefields were present. The pipeline, which was commissioned in October 2007 by then-president Álvaro Uribe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is approximately 224.4 kilometers long. 88.5 of those kilometers lie in Colombian territory.

Meta

• MESETAS: Two policemen were killed and two civilians hurt Sunday afternoon in a shooting that was presumably perpetrated by the FARC. The two injured civilians were transferred to the Hospital Departamental de Granada for care and their identities are unknown.

Norte de Santander

• TIBÚ: The FARC burned two vehicles in Tibú in the department of Norte de Santander Wednesday. The 33rd front of the FARC burned the vehicles, a small bus and a tractor after the occupants were out of the vehicles, leaving no one dead or wounded.

Tolima

• PUERTO GAITÁN: Darío Pérez Orozco, alias “Diablo” was captured by Tolima’s Southern Task Force in a continuing offensive against the FARC’s eastern bloc, El Espectador reported Monday. Darío Pérez Orozco was in charge of training minors in the handling of explosives. He is also linked to an ongoing investigation into the death of a petty officer who fell into a minefield on December 16, 2010 that he allegedly planted. Pérez Orozco was also responsible for gathering intelligence and participated in extortions, intimidations, and killings of villagers in the area.

Antioquia, Tolima, Nariño, Arauca and Norte de Santander

• A security analysis by Alfredo Rangel of the Fundación País Libre found that guerrilla attacks against the military in the departments of Antioquia, Tolima, Nariño, Arauca, and Norte de Santander in 2010 increased by 37 percent compared to 2009, while military operations in the departments decreased. There was also a 14 percent increase in attacks on infrastructure and a 32 percent increase in kidnappings. In those departments, military operations decreased in 2010 as follows, according to the study: 40 percent in Tolima, 32 percent in Nariño, 16 percent in Arauca, 10 percent in Norte de Santander and 6 percent in Antioquia. General Alberto José Mejía Ferrero, commander of the 4th Army brigade, said their operations statistics refute the results of the study. According to their numbers, in 2010 there were 17 guerrilla deaths in combat, 50 demobilizations, 1,255 rebels were captured, 898 hectares eradicated, 76 labs destroyed, 12 tons of explosives and over 2,000 mines confiscated, and all of those figures, according to military records, are better than in 2009.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea