Troops shoot Colombian guerrilla sought for 60 killings

Colombian troops shot dead a captain of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) thought responsible for certain recent FARC attacks that have killed more than 30 soldiers in the north-eastern department of Arauca, Caracol radio reported on 10 December. The guerrilla dubbed Jainover, identified as a commander in the FARC's 10th Front, was killed in an undated gun fight at an unspecified place near the Venezuelan frontier, possibly in the Arauca department where he was active. The army was cited as saying that after a shootout troops caught up with a car that sought to take Jainover's body into Venezuela; four presumed FARC fighters were arrested in the operation. The Army also attributed to Jainover attacks in 2005 that killed 30 soldiers in the central department of Meta. He was said to have filmed the attacks he orchestrated.

Colombia detains guerrilla captain, fighter deserts

Colombian troops caught near Venezuela a member of the outlawed National Liberation Army (ELN), a fighter dubbed Diego or el Gringo sought by Interpol for suspected activities including sedition, extortion and criminal conspiracy, media reported on 14 July. The 26-year-old was described as a go-between for ELN chiefs in two Colombian departments; he was caught in the district of Saravena in the north-eastern department of Arauca, Spain's EFE agency reported. A member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) separately surrendered to troops in southern Colombia "recently," explaining he fled soon after the FARC forced him to execute a 17-year-old companion, the daily Perú 21 reported on 13 July. The desertor, a fighter dubbed Chispa from the FARC's Front 48, reportedly spent three days in the jungle and surrendered in the district of La Tagua in the Putumayo department. He told the army that one of the Front commanders, a man dubbed Robinson Cucarro, had ordered shot the teenager for losing a "wooden rifle used in training." He was said to have forced Chispa to shoot him for opposing the decision, Perú 21 reported, citing a statement by the Colombian navy.

Colombian army shoots four guerrillas, Police dismantle drug gang in Bogotá

The army shot dead four fighters of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in an undated attack in the north-eastern department of Arauca, also detaining a suspected female guerrilla, Caracol radio reported on 15 May. The broadcaster cited sources from the Army's 16th Brigade as saying that the guerrillas were veterans from different ELN fronts, gathered in the unnamed locality to plan joint actions. The Colombian army and air force separately destroyed on 14 or 15 May a clandestine air strip and drug laboratory thought to belong to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the eastern department of Vichada near Venezuela, the Ministry of Defence reported. Coca leaves and semi-processed substances at the laboratory were said turned over to "competent authorities" and destroyed on the spot. Authorities believe the installations tracked down in the district of Cumaribo belonged to Front 16 of the FARC; the report stated that the army had so far destroyed two air strips and 18 drug-processing laboratories thought run by the FARC in 2013. In Bogotá, police detained 12 suspected members of a drug-dealing and crime gang active in central Bogotá, estimated to have daily sold drugs worth the equivalent of some 2,700 USD, Caracol reported on 15 May, citing declarations by Bogotá's police chief Luis Martínez Guzmán. More arrests were expected in following weeks, the broadcaster stated.

Colombian army shoots FARC guerrillas, talks scheduled with ELN rebels

Army planes bombed two camps of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in north-eastern Colombia at an unspecified date, in operations that killed three rebels and led to the arrest of two female guerrillas including a FARC "dentist," El Espectador reported on 23 April. One of the detained was identified as the guerrilla dubbed Yulitza or La Tota, dentist to the FARC's Front 10 who was in the district of Tame in the Arauca department to give treatment to members of the Alfonso Castellanos mobile column. Arms, explosives and dentistry equipment were confiscated, the army said. The army shot dead five other FARC rebels in undated operations in the countryside of the Puerto Rico district in the southern Caquetá department, El Espectador reported on 22 April. One of the dead was identified as Jorge Parrilla, presumed deputy-chief and accountant of the Teófilo Forero column. The army stated it also caught four other suspects in the locality of Alto Carmelo, described as members of the FARC's "support networks" presumably in Caquetá. Colombian and FARC representatives reportedly began their eighth round of peace talks in Havana on 23 April, while the government was expected to begin a similar process of talks in mid-May with the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional), the other communist rebel group in Colombia, El Espectador reported on 22 April. This followed weeks or months of informal contacts and expressions of interest on both parts, and would also take place in Havana. Each side was to have five negotiators, El Espectador reported on 22 April.

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.