Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Friday issued a decree giving him emergency powers to restore order in a coca-growing region bordering Venezuela that has been racked in the past few days by a deadly turf war among dissident rebel groups.
The decree, which can be extended, gives him 90 days to impose curfews, restrict traffic and take other steps that would normally contravene Colombians’ civil rights or require congressional approval.
It is the first time in more than a decade that a Colombian president has used such an extreme measure and underscores the seriousness of the current conflict in a country that for decades was paralyzed by political violence. However, it only applies to the Catatumbo region.
Photo: AFP
Colombian Minister of National Defense Ivan Velasquez said the country had launched a military offensive against leftist guerillas blamed for the week of bloody violence on the border.
“There has already been a first battle between the army and members of the National Liberation Army [ELN]... The order is to take over the territory,” Velasquez said from the border city of Cucuta, adding that more than 9,000 troops are deployed in the area.
Colombia is struggling to contain violence in the mountainous northeastern Catatumbo region, where a 5,800-strong ELN has targeted rival armed groups and their alleged sympathizers.
The ELN is trying to assert control over a swath of the border region that is home to plantations and trafficking routes that provide much of the world’s cocaine.
The offensive has killed at least 80 people, while dozens more have been kidnapped and tens of thousands have been displaced, government and UN estimates showed.
Petro’s conservative opponents have criticized the decree, accusing the former guerrilla of riding roughshod over the Constitution, but some activists have celebrated it, saying they are hopeful the move translates into better infrastructure, health care and schools in the traditionally lawless region.
“Why are the armed groups here? Because the last government hasn’t made investments. They’ve abandoned us,” said Jaime Botero, an activist in the town of Tibu.
Petro on Thursday said that he had been in contact with the Venezuelan government, floating a “joint plan to eradicate armed gangs on the border.”
Petro’s decision to engage with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government so soon after it was accused of stealing another election from the democratic opposition is likely to provoke anger.
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