Rights group warns of new 'war' in Colombia's border zone with Venezuela

[TomSea]

Rights group warns of new 'war' in Colombia's border zone with Venezuela | CBC News
The Associated Press · Posted: Aug 08, 2019 12:51 AM ET | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Illegal armed groups have forced some 40,000 people to flee their homes as they fight for control of drug trafficking routes in Colombia's Catatumbo region bordering Venezuela, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

Illegal armed groups have forced some 40,000 people to flee their homes as they fight for control of drug trafficking routes in Colombia's Catatumbo region bordering Venezuela, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

The international watchdog published a 64-page report on abuses committed against civilians by armed groups in the mountainous area. The situation reflects the significant security challenges that Colombia faces after the government signed a 2016 peace deal with the FARC guerrilla group, leaving a void that has been filled by smaller armed groups that have moved into Catatumbo and other remote areas unleashing a new wave of drug-fuelled violence.

In the report called "The War in Catatumbo," Human Rights Watch says three armed groups are fighting over drug routes and coca plantations abandoned by FARC rebels in the region, including the Popular Liberation Army, the National Liberation Army and a small group of former FARC fighters.

Read more at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/human-rights-watch-new-war-colombia-border-venezuela-1.5239775

Venezuelan refugees recruited as child soldiers in Colombia: Report
By Caitlin Hu, CNN

Updated 0410 GMT (1210 HKT) August 8, 2019
Venezuelan refugees waiting for UNICEF humanitarian supplies in Colombia in April 2019.

CNN)As Venezuelans flee their country in search of safety and economic security, another set of dangers awaits them across the border.

In Colombia's northeast, where many Venezuelans have ended up, rival armed groups control illegal border crossings and wreak havoc on civilians with killings, intimidation, sexual violence and recruit children as soldiers, according to a new report by NGO Human Rights Watch.

The report focuses on the impoverished Catatumbo region, where armed groups -- including the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), and former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -- wage bloody battles for control not only between each other but also on Colombian soldiers. The area is an important one for coca cultivation, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Read more at: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/08/americas/hfr-hrw-report-catacumbo-intl/index.html