BOGOTA.- The Ombudsman’s Office Colombia urged the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the dissidence of the Central General Staff (EMC) of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to confirm the number of kidnapped under his power, which the organization estimates at 91 since mid-2020 and among whom there would be three minors.
“Due to the concern that we have about the increase in the last year in the kidnapping of people, especially in areas where they commit crimes ELN and the self-proclaimed Central General Staff of the dissidents of the FARCwe have asked these illegal armed groups to confirm the data that we have registered in the Ombudsman’s Office about the people they currently have in their power,” said the Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo Assis, according to a statement published on his website. Web.
In addition, he asked both guerrilla formations to release these people “as soon as possible” in a letter sent to the respective heads of the peace delegations in a situation in which “the internal armed conflict is intensifying.”
Likewise, he emphasized the need to prioritize the “immediate release” of the three kidnapped minors due to their “condition of special constitutional protection and the humanitarian urgency that their kidnapping implies.”
Assis explained that so far this year, 69 kidnappings have already been recorded, a figure that could be higher due to the fear of many families to report possible reprisals by these groups.
The regions affected from May 2020 to the beginning of December of this year are Arauca (with 33 kidnappings), Norte de Santander (with 13), Valle del Cauca (eight), Antioquía (seven), César (six), Chocó (five ), Cauca (five), La Guajira (four), Nariño (three), Meta (three), Bolívar (two), Magdalena (one) and Casanare (one).
The Government is in different phases of negotiating peace with the two armed groups, which has not prevented them from continuing with some of their activities such as kidnappings. While negotiations with the ELN have led to humanitarian relief in some of the most affected areas, the EMC paralyzed the dialogue after accusing the Government of not keeping its promises, although it has maintained the ceasefire.
Last week, ELN commander Eliécer Chamorro Acosta, alias “Antonio García”, denied that the group commits kidnappings and described those who deprive them of their freedom as “prisoners and detainees.”
“The ELN does not carry out kidnappings. There are different actions of deprivation of liberty, but they are different: prisoners, hostages, detainees, kidnapped and disappeared. The ELN only takes prisoners and detainees,” Chamorro wrote on the social network X.
New negotiator
The former senator Vera Grabe She was appointed as the new head of the Government delegation in the dialogues with the ELN. The anthropologist also arrives to replace Otty Patiño, whom President Petro appointed high commissioner for Peace, El Tiempo reported.
The appointment was confirmed by the office of the high commissioner for Peace through a press release.
Vera Grabe Loewenherz, born in Bogotá but of German descent, was a guerrilla member of the M-19 (like Otty Patiño) since 1974 and after signing the peace agreement with the Government, she became the first amnestied woman to reach the Congress. She was part of the group of parliamentarians from the M-19 Democratic Alliance that came to the Senate after the promulgation of the 1991 Constitution.
Source: With information from Europa Press / AP
