BOGOTA: A police officer and civilian were killed during a violent protest in Colombia’s Caqueta province on Thursday, as the demonstrators, who were members of rural communities, also took hostage 79 officers and nine oilfield workers, the government said.
The violence erupted in an area of the San Vicente del Caguan municipality, where rural and Indigenous communities members blocked access to an oil field and set a blaze demanding Emerald Energy to help fix roads, national police said.
President Gustavo Petro condemned the killings on Twitter as he ordered defence and interior officials to the region.
Tenemos un movimiento popular que por su exclusión y por el influjo de grupos que quieren destruir este gobierno y sumir a Colombia en la guerra, ha terminado asesinando un joven policía campesino, y propiciado la destrucción del primer gobierno progresista de este siglo
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) March 3, 2023
He directed the attorney general’s office to investigate the killings, and requested the Red Cross to attend to those being held hostage. “I expect from the perpetrators to unilaterally liberate the government officials before violence is escalated again,” Petro said.
The office of human rights ombudsman Carlos Camargo, in a statement, confirmed the kiling of a policeman and a civilian. Officials from ombudsman’s office were accompanying the police personnel and Emerald employees who were being held, the office said on Twitter.
