Colombia: How National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas painfully confirmed authorities are powerless in northeast
The ELN violently reaffirmed their control over Colombia’s northeastern Arauca province on Saturday, days after Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed “the guerrillas were the police’ there.
In one of multiple attacks, guerrillas burned a van that was transporting workers from the capital Arauca to the Caño Limon oil field.
According to local radio station, La Voz del Cinaruco, other vehicles transporting workers were spray-painted with texts like “multinationals get out.”
In a second operation, guerrillas order the driver of a truck to block the road between the town of Tame and the capital.
State-run oil company Ecopetrol said that the guerrilla actions did not affect oil production. The army deployed troops from the 18th Brigade and the Quiron Task Force to clear the roads that had been blocked by the guerrillas.