Fighting between Colombian rebel groups intensified over the weekend, resulting in at least 16 people being killed.
According to the nation's human rights ombudsman, dozens of people had to flee their homes due to fighting in rural areas of the state of Arauca. Small rebel groups and drug trafficking organizations are allegedly fighting over various different aspects of the state, including smuggling routes and coca fields. The National Liberation Army is among these fighting groups, with Colombia's national army telling reporters that they are fighting for dominance in the state's drug trade against former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Among these struggles for superiority, regular citizens were left in the crossfire. Many citizens were dragged out of their homes during the fighting and subsequently executed for seemingly no reason. According to human rights officer Juan Carlos Villate, 50 people have been reported missing during the course of the fighting. Arauca has been a high-profile state in Colombia due to its proximity to Colombia's neighbor Venezuela. Hundreds of refugees have begun fleeing Venezuela and settling in Arauca in order to escape fighting.
The United Nations Human Rights division in Colombia has spoken out about the fighting and will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds.
The killings mark a setback for Colombia's government, which was able to bring down homicide rates in much of the country following a 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Arauca is home to some of Colombia's largest oil wells and is also crossed by a pipeline that is regularly attacked by rebel groups who steal its oil. Drug trafficking groups have been fighting over its smuggling routes for decades.
Villate is an officer in the town of Tame.
President Ivan Duque said on Monday that he would send more troops to the area and increase surveillance flights to intercept armed groups and monitor their activity along the border with Venezuela. Duque accused Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro of providing shelter to some of these rebel groups and said Colombia would fight them "with all its might."
While Colombia's overall murder rate has gone down since the peace deal was signed, homicides and forced displacement have also gone up in some rural pockets of the country that were previously dominated by the FARC and where smaller groups, including the ELN, are now fighting for territorial control.
The ELN guerrillas initiated peace talks with the Colombian government in 2017, but those broke down following an attack on a police academy that killed 23 people.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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