“The height of cynicism”: ELN made “excuses” for the massacre of two minors and two adults in Arauca

On Thursday afternoon, a communiqué signed by the National Liberation Army (ELN) was released, which attributed the authorship of a massacre that occurred in the village of El Sobaco in the municipality of Tame, Arauca. However, it has generated rejection that in the middle of the bulletin written on the 19th of the same month, the guerrillas indicated that the killing of two adults and two minors was a mistake.

The armed group regretted the deaths and stated that, after investigating themselves, they detected that there was, what they considered to be a “war error” by men belonging to the Domingo Laín Sáenz front, “who attacked the vehicle where an Araucano family was mobilizing and where Edson and Angel died, and the minors Delvis and Yelina,” said the guerrilla.

Later, and within the same text, the Eln indicated that the Eastern War Front will take “measures” to ensure that these events do not happen again; it even blamed the massacre perpetrated by them on the government of Iván Duque “for its inability to contain the FARC paramilitary drug traffickers” who, like them, have murdered peasants from this region of eastern Colombia.

That pamphlet concluded by reiterating that, “our will to fight is with the people of Arauca to rid them of the oppressive yoke of this illegitimate government”, again holding them responsible for the multiple homicide, and hours after this message was heard, the rejection was felt by various social and political sectors.

In context: “So far in 2022, 38 people have been displaced daily in Arauca”: Ombudsman's Office

Humberto de la Calle was one of the first to react, and through Twitter he said that the statement is “The height of cynicism”; while former presidential pre-candidate Juan Manuel Galán called the members of the insurgent group “cynical” and that it was not a war error as they made known.

“An error of war? Cynics! As well as criminals. The war you are waging against the dissidents of the FARC and other criminal groups is over the criminal business of drug trafficking. They don't care about murdering children, they care about controlling the cocaine business,” Galán said in a trill where he attached the pamphlet.

Likewise, former Minister of the Interior Juan Fernando Cristo exclaimed that the responsibility for the massacre in Arauca lies solely with them.

The worrying figure revealed by the Ombudsman's Office

This Thursday, April 21, the Ombudsman's Office denounced that so far in 2022, an average of 38 people have been displaced every day in the border department of Arauca, due to clashes between armed groups that are present in this troubled region in eastern Colombia.

“From our Regional Arauca we have been constantly monitoring the human rights situation. We are concerned that actions continue to be committed against civilians that violate International Humanitarian Law,” said the entity, mentioning in passing the attack that the guerrilla group referred to in the communiqué repudiated by different sectors and in which two children aged 5 and 8 were killed.

Likewise, the Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, said that so far this year 146 people have been registered in this department, so that the risk to the population in this area is high due to clashes between state actors, the Residual Organized Armed Groups and structures of the Eln.

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