Fighting Between Criminal Gangs Causes Population Confinement in Nariño

Fighting between criminal gangs, allegedly dissident groups of the defunct FARC, is causing the confinement of the population in Leiva, Nariño department, in southern Colombia. The Ombudsman’s Office have asked the armed groups to allow a humanitarian corridor to bring food to some rural neighborhoods.

The humanitarian emergency that some 300 people, belonging to 77 families, are living through began three days ago in a rural area, far from the center of the small town in the Colombian department bordering Ecuador.

According to the ombudsman Carlos Camargo Assís, “officials of our delegates for the Guidance and Counseling of Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict and the Rights of the Population in Human Mobility, and of our Regional Nariño, are in charge of the situation, which affects the population located about three hours from the capital Pasto”.

Humanitarian corridor requested

In the last hours, the Ombudsman’s Office has requested the creation of a humanitarian corridor to deliver food to the three hundred people who have been confined to their homes for three days.

A commission of the Ombudsman’s Office, which is in the field, met with the Secretary of Government of the local administration and the municipal ombudsman, in order to seek solutions for the confined population, who are still being censused, due to the persistent security difficulties in the rural area, especially the village of Las Delicias.

Until the afternoon of March 5, according to information provided by the population at risk, armed clashes persisted in which, apparently, weapons that violate human rights and transgress the rules established in international humanitarian law (IHL), such as the so-called “cylinder bombs”, were also being used, a tactic denounced by the Ombudsman’s Office.

Avoiding a new massive displacement

The area has been suffering for years from the confrontation between criminal gangs, without the State having been able to impose a continuous and effective control over the territory. On this occasion, due to the fear and danger arising from the violent actions, schools suspended classes, including the Las Delicias Educational Institution.

“We need urgent measures to be implemented to avoid a massive displacement and the worsening of the situation in other villages, such as El Placer, where there is also anxiety among families due to the impact generated by the clashes”, stated the Ombudsman.

The Franco Benavides Front, belonging to the dissident Central General Staff (EMC) of the FARC, is in the region, as well as a new armed outlaw group; according to the information provided by the human rights entity, these are the groups involved in the confrontation.

A scene for a multitude of criminal gangs

Although the confrontations began several days ago, the situation worsened on March 5, with the use, according to the Ombudsman’s Office, of these illegal weapons. Also on that same day, militants of the illegal armed groups murdered Segundo Virgilio Imvachi, a community leader in the rural neighborhood of El Porvenir.

According to reports, on Tuesday, armed men took him from his house, shot him and left his body in a neighboring area.

The area has been on alert since 2020, due to the violent actions in several villages and rural areas of the municipality of Leiva and areas of the western mountain range of the department of Nariño.

At that time, the risk revolved around the presence of dissident FARC factions, such as the Jaime Martínez Mobile Column and the Carlos Patiño Front, in a territory that was dominated by the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC-Gulf Clan). According to some information, a front of the National Liberation Army (ELN) is also participating in the fight for territorial control.