FARC and ELN guerrillas failed to cause significant disruption to Colombia’s celebration of its 200 years of independence. Three separate clashes were registered by the authorities, one of which left a soldier injured.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, ELN gunmen fired at police posts in the villages of Teorama and El Tarra in the north-eastern department of Norte de Santander, according to the department’s police commander Carlos Enrique Villadiego. ELN slogans were daubed on walls surrounding the police station, the police chief added.
Meanwhile, guerrillas believed to belong to the FARC’s 28th Front used the morning mist as cover to attack a military post near Socota, in the central department of Boyaca. El Tiempo cites official sources, which claim that the assault was an isolated incident “perpetrated by three guerrillas.” The same sources describe the assault as a brief exchange of fire lasting some minutes.
Authorities confirmed that a soldier was injured in the gunfight. The soldier’s wounds were said not to be severe.
Presumed FARC operatives were also active in Neiva, capital of the central department of Huila, where they placed three bombs under betting shop outlets. Cantalicio Cardenas, government secretary for Neiva, told journalists that the actions were reprisal attacks, after the shop owners failed to pay the guerrilla group extortion money.
Colombian intelligence claimed there were FARC plots to disrupt marches celebrating the bicentennial.
