Violence in Colombia: News Update Share This /

The new year is off to a violent start in Colombia, marred by an assassination and several guerilla attacks. Here’s a brief overview of the most recent news related to the violence in Colombia.

• The city of Neiva, the capital of the southwestern department of Huila, has been the site of three guerilla bombings since Sunday. The second attack Tuesday night left one young person injured and the most recent attack yesterday morning damaged an estimated 50 homes, also leaving many Neiva residents without power. Near the location of Thursday’s blast, bomb specialists deactivated another explosive device. All three attacks are being attributed to the FARC.
• On January 7 in Medellín, unknown assailants assassinated Jaime Humberto Sánchez, the mayor of Santo Domingo, a municipality in the Antioquia department in northeastern Colombia. The mayor was killed after a shootout with the assailants, who also injured a bodyguard of the mayor’s. He was pronounced dead after being transported to Pablo Tobón Uribe hospital.
• Ingrid Betancourt, a former hostage of the FARC, asked the group to release all hostages, not only the five the FARC has promised will be released around January 18. Those five, which include members of the army, police, and marines, were all taken hostage between 2007 and 2010.
• Five Colombian soldiers have been accused of killing three members of the Agudelo family in 2002 and passing the men off as members of the FARC killed in combat. Investigators determined the three men were defenseless when they were killed.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea