Colombian army shoots FARC captain, pipeline blown up

The Colombian army shot dead at least two guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in undated operations in the northern district of Hacarí, including one identified as a close collaborator of the FARC's supreme chief Timochenko, Bogotá's Radio Santa Fe reported on 20 May. The dead were provisionally identified as the guerrilla dubbed el negro Eliecer, head of the Antonio Santos mobile column, and his presumed partner, a female guerrilla dubbed Tatiana who acted as the column's "accountant." El negro Eliecer was also known as the "terror of Catatumbo," a reference to his presumed area of activity, the district of Catatumbo in Norte de Santander. The newspaper El Colombiano cited him as involved in the massacre in 2004 of 30 peasants in the locality of La Gabarra in Norte de Santander, but also of 17 soldiers at an unspecified date. The Ministry of Defence separately reported on 17 May that three purported members of Front 57 of the FARC surrendered to the Navy that day, in the northern and western departments of Antioquia and Chocó. Two of them were women of whom one, a 24-year-old, had joined the FARC at the age of 14. In southern Colombia, crude oil spilled into the countryside after two sections of the TransAndino pipeline were blown up in attacks attributed to the FARC, Radio Santa Fe reported on 20 May. The pipeline was blown up in one section between the districts of San Miguel and Orito in the Putumayo department, and near the district of La Hormiga in that department, near Ecuador's frontier. Operatives of the firm Ecopetrol were sent to the area to clear the mess and the firm stated it had stopped pumping into the pipe, which takes oil to the Pacific coast, the broadcaster reported.

Colombian troops kill, detain FARC guerrillas

The army shot dead two and detained six presumed fighters of Front 33 of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on 11 March, in operations in the district of Convención the Norte de Santander department, north-eastern Colombia, the broadcaster Caracol reported. The two were suspected of having left an unspecified number of car bombs in several localities in that department in preceding days, Caracol reported, citing army declarations. The army shot dead at an unspecified date two other suspected guerrillas in the countryside of the district of Caucasia in the northern Antioquia department, Caracol reported on 11 March. It cited these as among the 10 presumed guerrillas killed by the army in Antioquia since it began its Sword of Honour (Espada de Honor) operations in December 2012. The Defence Ministry reported on 11 March the detention at an unspecified date of a suspected member of the FARC's Southern Block and another fighter's voluntary surrender, both in southern Colombia. The guerrilla who surrendered was identified by his nom de guerre, Pedro, and described as a member of the FARC's Eastern Block; he surrendered to soldiers in the town of San Vicente in the department of Caquetá. The detainee was a suspected member of the FARC's "support networks" in southern Colombia; he was caught in a rural part of the Puerto Caicedo district in Putumayo. In the district of Florencia in Caquetá, troops disposed of a roadside bomb thought placed by the FARC in the locality of Venecia, and separately arrested a man driving with 21 kilograms of unprocessed cocaine paste, in the locality of Santo Domingo in Florencia, the Ministry reported on 11 March.

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.