After nearly two months of protests in Putumayo the government has agreed to form a permanent dialogue with the department in the Puerto Asís in order to find a solution to end the ongoing dispute where oil infrastructure and security is a principal issue.
The count dropped to 37 this week, below recent but above long-term averages, and took the trend line with it but the distribution of incidents was the most unexpected.
A contentious tone fell over the process in the past week as the Farc denied that the process was advancing towards a final stage, and unleashed a flurry of controversy after comments on the victim status of congressional representative Clara Rojas, once a captive of the guerrilla.
Arauca congressional representative Albeiro Vanegas says that the ELN has stepped up attacks in the department, while the Farc has decreased activity. The congressional president José David Name has called on greater security measures from the government.
After weeks of very high guerrilla activity, incidents were up because of Armed Forces actions. The count went up to 40 although the trend line fell.
In Havana the 27th round of talks came to a close this week, ending one of the most active phases of the peace negotiations. In Colombia allegations of a plot to sabotage the peace talks emerged.
The trend keeps going upward although, this week, incidents were down again to 38 still well above long-term averages although below trend for the first time in several weeks.
The Colombian Petroleum Association’s new president Francisco José Lloreda called on the government to improve its ability to protect the nation’s pipelines, regardless of any peace advances with the guerrilla.
The first encounter between victims of the armed conflict in Colombia and the peace negotiators of the government and Farc guerrillas took place last weekend, as the talks dive into this emotionally laden topic.
There was another tanker convoy burning this week and trends continued upward although incidents, in fact, went down to 43, still well above recent and long-term averages.