FARC rebels killed, held in Colombia

The Colombian Defence Minister said on 3 March that the army had "neutralised" - killed or detained - in "preceding hours" 21 presumed fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), including eight children or teenagers who were taken from the FARC. Juan Carlos Pinzón Bueno said that in operations against Front 37 of the FARC and a smaller unit in the district of El Bagre in the northern department of Antioquia, troops killed one fighter and arrested three including a guerrilla dubbed Deisy, the niece of a member of the FARC Secretariat, the ministry website reported. Eight minors of unspecified age were among the demobilized - and they may be taken into state care in keeping with precedent - while three other guerrillas were in turn "demobilized" or surrendered. He said that troops separately killed two FARC members and injured two, and two others surrendered, in operations against fronts 48 and 58 of the FARC in the northern department of Antioquia and southern department of Putumayo. Police separately detained at unspecified dates two guerrillas presumed involved in the kidnappings and detentions in past years of policemen, soldiers and politicians. In Soacha west of Bogotá, police caught a man identified as Diego Navarrete Beltrán - Sebastián or LJ - a guerrilla said involved in the capture and detention of hostages that included the former politician Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio in 2003-2008, RCN La Radio reported on 5 March. Police caught another suspected guerrilla in Villavicencio south-east of Bogotá, a man dubbed Elkin, identified as one of the "guards" for captured policemen and soldiers in 2001-4. The authorities separately attributed to the FARC two purported bomb attacks early on 5 March in the naval district of Tumaco in the south-western department of Nariño, which damaged structures but injured nobody. The Defence Minister denounced them as indiscriminate acts of terrorism "intended to hurt the civilian population," El Tiempo reported. One of the bombs was placed by a naval base. FARC and government representatives in Havana were cited as claiming progress on 1 March in their process of talks, initiated in autumn 2012 and intended to end decades of conflict in Colombia. Talks had so far focused on rural land use and access, the broadcaster Caracol reported.

Ten killed in suspected crimes around Colombia

Unidentified individuals killed four people on 17 or 18 February in two country houses in the district of Barbosa in the northern department of Antióquia, Caracol television reported. Police provisionally said the four may have been domestic staff at the houses where they were found, but were investigating. In the departmental capital Medellín, two children aged 11 years were found dead on 17 or 18 February after they were reported missing on 16 February; they were believed killed by local gangs, it appears for unwittingly trespassing a gang's territory. The suspected killers released a younger child who was with them so he could relate the events, Caracol television cited relatives of the children as saying. The broadcaster observed the two children may themselves have been in a gang. Caracol also reported the death of a woman in shootouts between gangs in Commune 13, a neighbourhood of Medellín. Three were killed in the district of Tuluá in Valle del Cauca south-west of Bogotá over 16-18 February; one was a bus driver shot by two passengers who were later detained, Caracol television reported. In the department of Meta south-east of Bogotá, police and state agencies found two arms caches suspected to belong to a criminal group and to FARC guerrillas, after launching simultaneous operations. The stores yielded a range of assault weapons, rocket and grenade launchers, grenades and ammunition, RCN La Radio reported on 18 February.

Colombian authorities report guerrilla, drug strikes

The Defence Ministry reported on 8 February the deaths and arrests of eight members of Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) and of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in separate incidents. Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón declared while touring the departments of Antioquia and Huila that three ELN fighters including a local chief dubbed Dubernillo, were killed on 7 February in the district of Cáceres in the northern department of Antioquia, the ministry website stated. He said troops also foiled an attempt to sabotage power infrastructures in that area and confiscated arms. Speaking separately in the district of Neiva in the south-central department of Huila he said police and the army caught five suspected members of Front 13 of the FARC, dressed as civilians and "with the intention of launching bomb attacks" on civilian targets. On 10 February the army was reported to have killed three FARC fighters and destroyed two camps said designed for over 70 guerrillas, in the southern department of Caquetá. Three rebels were injured and arms and ammunition confiscated in the operation in the district of San Vicente del Caguán, Caracol television reported. Two of these were said to be children or teenagers and handed over to child welfare authorities. Juan Manuel Santos separately thanked Panama on 10 February for catching a suspected drug trafficker identified by his pseudonym Pichi. Writing on the website Twitter, Santos thanked President Ricardo Martinelli and Panamanian authorities for helping catch a man identified as a member of gang Oficina de Envigado, Colombian public radio reported, citing EFE. Police stated in a communiqué that Pichi was thought linked to the killings of two policemen in Medellín in 2012 and the massacre of nine or 10 members of his own gang outside Medellín last New Year's Eve; he was also blamed for the current bout of violence in Medellín, Radio Nacional de Colombia reported.

Seventeen reported killed around Colombia

Four were reported shot dead on a road in the northern department of Antioquia on 27 January, while 10 people were reported killed in brawls or criminal incidents in Bogotá on 26-27 January. Police were investigating to find out if the four, found shot outside El Bagre in the district of Zaragoza, had been killed by criminals or guerrillas, RCN La Radio reported. Coroners in Bogotá separately reported 10 violent deaths in the capital on the night of 26-27 January, which apparently belied the city's declining trend in violent crime. Seven of these were killed by gunfire and three with knives or similar implements, RCN radio reported. The mayor of Bogotá Gustavo Petro said on 25 January that homicides decreased in January 2013 compared to January 2012 - from 16 to 12 per 100,000 inhabitants. Bogotá would become a "peaceful space" he said if the trend continues, Caracol radio reported. In the northern district of Sincelejo, three were shot dead at a family gathering on 26 or 27 January, when gunmen entered a house and began to "shoot indiscriminately," Caracol television reported. Police were separately reported to have detained dozens of suspected criminals in northern Colombia; the national police chief José Roberto León Riaño declared that 27 suspected drug traffickers were detained in Riohacha and Cartagena de Indias on the Caribbean coast, Caracol radio reported on 26 January. This followed the recent discovery in Cartagena of just under four tonnes of cocaine hidden in a container. León separately announced the arrests of 22 suspected extortionists in Cartagena; the suspects presented themselves to local businesses as members of major criminal gangs - presumably to frighten their victims - Caracol reported on 26 January.

Nine shot dead "at party" outside Medellín

Media reported the assassination of nine people in a country house south of the city of Medellín in northern Colombia on 31 December. Police were investigating the victims' identities but suspected the killings to be related to drug trafficking, RCN La Radio reported. One of the dead was identified as "possibly" a drug trafficker or head of the criminal gang known as the Oficina de Envigado, the broadcaster Caracol reported. The dead were found in a country house in the district of Envigado; neighbours reportedly told police they had heard nothing but the sound of loud music at the house. Several violent crimes were reported around the country in the closing days of 2012. RCN reported the shooting deaths of four people in the south-western city of Cali on 28 December, including of a child or teenager of unspecified age and a boy aged 19. A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in the northern city of Bucaramanga on 29 December as he resisted a bid by two thieves to steal his cap, Caracol Radio reported. The same day a man was shot to death in a "public establishment," perhaps a bar, in Cúcuta north-east of Bucaramanga, Caracol reported.

Colombia holds suspected murderers, guerrillas

Colombia was reported to have detained all of three gang members sought for the massacre of 10 peasants in northern Colombia on 7 November, the last being caught at an unspecified location on 24 November. President Juan Manuel Santos said in Santa Marta on Colombia's northern coast that day that the state had honoured its promise to catch the culprits, El Espectador reported. He also thanked neighbouring Panama for arresting or helping catch at an unspecified location, two presumed members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) with 540 kilograms of cocaine. The state separately arrested at an unspecified date in the north-eastern town of Saravena a member of Front 38 of the FARC, described as one of 25 terrorists most sought in the eastern state of Arauca, El Espectador reported on 25 November. The detained - identified by the pseudonym El Culeco - was thought to be in charge of tracking troops and officials in Arauca and to have been involved in an attack in December 2010 that killed two policemen. In separate operations in districts west of the capital Bogotá, police detained nine members of Colombia's Communist Party and of the leftist Marcha Patriótica association, all suspected of being collaborators or members of the FARC, El Espectador reported on 24 November. The detained were described as students, teachers and trade unionists and arrested in Manizales, Pereira, Cali and Palmira; police handed them over to the judiciary in Manizales the capital of the Caldas department, for more investigations. Their defence lawyers reportedly declared that authorities were trying to revive cases and charges for which the suspects had been tried and acquitted. Marcha Patriótica seeks among other goals a negotiated end to the state's conflict with the FARC; it was formed in 2012 in the wake of protests against the policies of the then conservative president Álvaro Uribe Vélez. The Communist Party was founded in 1930.