70 tourists were evacuated due to clashes in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

The clashes in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta continue, the latest report submitted more than 70 tourists who were going to the Lost City had to be evacuated, due to a police operation and the National Army against the Conquistadora Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra (ACSN) in 'Machete Pelao'.

In dialogues with W Radio, the social leader and human rights defender, Leber Dimas, reported that, “on the northeastern slope, which faces Ciudad Perdida, there was a confrontation between the conquering Self-Defence Forces of the Sierra and the Public Forces, as a result of which there is an injured officer and apparently one person killed, there is talk who may be the commander of the conquering self - defense groups of the Sierra, but that information is not confirmed.”

Similarly, Dimas confirmed the displacement of 570 people due to the clashes between 'Los Pachencas' and 'El Clan del Golfo' in rural Ciénaga.

In addition, Leber assured that, since 2008, a characterization report was made which showed that the 'Gulf Clan' already had a presence in 16 of the 30 municipalities, including Santa Marta, a fact that has also been reflected in areas of the department.

In the rural area of the municipality of Ciénaga (Magdalena), there are warnings about the fighting that the self-described Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, better known as the Gulf Clan, and the Conquistadora Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra or Los Pachenca, which have been fighting over the territory since the beginning of Holy Week to continue to commit crimes with drug trafficking.

The village of La Secreta is the most affected, they reported in the Barranquilla newspaper El Heraldo, where hostilities between the two drug trafficking groups have intensified, as a result of which several families have abandoned their homes and moved to the urban areas of the town, and the neighboring municipality of Zona Bananera, as well as as well as the cities of Santa Marta and Barranquilla.

Meanwhile, on the Caracol Radio station they consulted with an anthropologist Lerber Dimas, who is an analyst of the conflict in that region of the country, who explained that those affected do not recognize themselves as displaced persons, since they left their homes voluntarily to prevent any incident in the midst of the clashes among the criminal structures.

“They have not reported, nor will they. They do not understand that this is forced displacement. For them it is serious, but it does not imply that it is displacement because no one told them: -leave this area-, but they left of their own free will because they saw risk and this is displacement and even if they interpret it differently, crime is happening”, he explained on Caracol Radio.

He added that these two groups, which emerged from the extinct Auc, are regrouping which has led to the wave of violence in that area of the Colombian Caribbean. “No one is telling them to leave, but there are no guarantees of safety or peace of mind,” he said.

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