An unknown armed group massacred 12 people in a remote community in western Colombia, according to multiple accounts.
The massacre allegedly took place on Sunday in a river community called Sagrada Familia on the border of the Cauca and Valle del Cauca provinces.
The ombudsman of port city Buenaventura, Carlos Potes, told Blu Radio on Monday that locals warned a nearby Navy unit that an armed group slaughtered 12 strangers who were having a party.
The victims were unarmed and wore no clothes or signs that linked them to a specific illegal armed group, according to Cotes.
Those who committed the massacre allegedly left evidence suggesting that the ELN was behind the bloodshed, multiple media outlets reported.
In response, the ELN’s Western War Front denied any involvement in a pamphlet, which said that the massacre was due to infighting in the Jaime Martinez Front, a unit of the rival guerrilla group EMC that is also active in the region.
“To justify the events, they placed an ELN flag at the site where the massacre was perpetrated, in an attempt to conceal what really happened,” said the ELN division.
Authorities were reportedly able to enter Sagrada Familia on Tuesday after which the commander of the Armed Forces, Admiral Francisco Cubides, confirmed that the massacre was due to a dispute among guerrillas over illegal mining operations in the region..
It was an internal confrontation over differences related to illegal mining trade. This led to a settling of scores, and everything is under investigation by the Prosecutor General’s Office. Knowing that the men were members of this group requires an important task for the Armed Forces to continue fighting them.
Admiral Francisco Cubides
According to the NGO Indepaz, which monitors armed conflict in Colombia, the Sagrada Familia massacre was the 47th in the country so far this year.