BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s Army announced on Saturday that 104 fighters from a faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), including 20 minors, have deserted from the illegal armed group amid an offensive by the rival National Liberation Army (ELN) in the northeast of the South American country.
The ELN’s offensive against the FARC faction, which is engaged in peace negotiations with the government, began more than a week ago in the Catatumbo region of Norte de Santander department, near the border with Venezuela.
The escalation of violence prompted President Gustavo Petro to suspend peace negotiations with the ELN. The dialogue with the ELN had been a key strategy for the president to end a six-decade-old internal conflict that has claimed more than 450,000 lives.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota; Writing by Sarah Kinosian; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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