On January 19, 2022, at 10:35 PM, a VBIED was initiated outside the Colombian Institute of Agriculture and a complex of social leaders and human rights headquarters in Saravena, Arauca, leaving one person dead and 20 injured. The blast affected numerous commercial establishments in a 10-block radius around the point of explosion, including two media outlets.
Antonio Medina, leader of the FARC dissidents’ 28th Front, claimed responsibility for the attack in a video, describing it as an offensive against the Domingo Laín Front of the ELN, and warned of more attacks to come. He claimed the latter’s urban command center was destroyed in the blast. The video concluded with an apology for the “collateral damage” caused.
On January 9, 2022, ten days before the attack, the same leader “gave the order to attack community leaders, social leaders and community projects,” in a WhatsApp audio message.
Dozens of people have been killed in Arauca since the beginning of the year in violent confrontations between the ELN and the FARC dissidents for control of drug routes in this vital area that shares a long border with Venezuela.
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