Ocana, Colombia, Apr 26, 2018 / 18:23 pm
Residents of the Catatumbo region of Colombia, which borders Venezuela, are trapped in their own homes due to an ongoing conflict between two guerilla groups fighting over drug trafficking routes.
"People are trapped in their own homes and the people who dare to go out are intimidated by motorcycle riders who tell them, 'You have to obey the order to strike.' They simply cannot go out or open their businesses," Bishop Gabriel Ángel Villa Vahos of Ocaña told RCN Radio April 23.
The National Liberation Army (ELN) and the People's Liberation Army (EPL), two Marxist-Leninist guerilla insurgents, declared war some 40 days ago for control of the drug trafficking routes for about 62,000 acres of coca in Catatumbo, which is a sub-region in northeast North Santander.
The problem worsened with the "armed strike" decreed last week by the EPL which has restricted commerce and people's free movement in the area.