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At least 11 people have been killed in two new massacres in Colombia, amid an escalation of violence in the country, local authorities reported this Friday. The deaths are being investigated and are in addition to the 33 massacres documented by the United Nations so far in 2020.

In a mountainous area of ​​the troubled department of Cauca (southwest), "six people were murdered in the Uribe village (village), apparently by an armed group," Carlos Vela , mayor of the El Tambo municipality where the attack took place , confirmed to Afp. slaughter.

The leaders of the peasant region have alerted the local authority about the massacre, but due to the difficulties of access and communication in this remote area, information is still scarce.

Earlier, the governor of the department of Arauca , bordering Venezuela, denounced a "massacre" of five people in the municipality of Arauca.

"I reject these violent actions in our department. For now, it is being investigated to see if the people are Colombian or Venezuelan," said the governor, Facundo Castillo , in a video broadcast on his social networks.

Both regions have been hit by violence, due to their strategic location for cocaine trafficking.

Strategic war for cocaine trafficking

Both the department of Cauca and Arauca are fighting with blood and fire for the National Liberation Army (ELN) , recognized as the last guerrilla in Colombia; dissidents from the former rebel group FARC ; former FARC guerrillas who started a new rebellion called Segunda Marquetalia and drug gangs of paramilitary origin.

According to the UN, a massacre occurs when three or more people are killed in the same act and by the same perpetrator.

According to the international organization, the main responsible for the massacres registered in 2020 are common criminal groups that operate in departments with cocaine production.

Local authorities and NGOs have warned of a deterioration in security in the country, despite the confinement measures that have been in place since March to stop the pandemic.

Although the peace agreement signed with the FARC in 2016 reduced violence, in Colombia a conflict persists between guerrillas, paramilitaries, drug traffickers and state agents that in more than six decades has exceeded nine million victims.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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