According to the office, the military actions that occurred in the municipality of San Calixto “have generated forced displacements toward the municipal seat of El Tarra.”

Given this situation, the Ombudsman’s Office called on municipal and departmental authorities to provide the necessary resources and mechanisms to guarantee emergency humanitarian assistance to those affected or forced to flee.

It also requested that the Public Forces strengthen the planning and evaluation of military operations in light of the principles of necessity, precaution, and proportionality of international humanitarian law in their actions to prevent harm to the civilian population.

The agency emphasized that the “event once again demonstrates the serious risks faced by the civilian population in the context of the armed conflict in the Catatumbo region and demands a timely preventive and humanitarian response.”

According to a report by the local media outlet Blu Radio, the action to which the Ombudsman’s Office refers was Operation Beta, the first bombing raid by the government of Abelardo de la Espriella against the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The news platform reported that, as a result of the military operation, two ELN members were killed, 1.5 tons of explosives were seized, and five camps were destroyed.

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