The death toll from recent attacks by a rebel group in Colombia’s Catatumbo region has risen to 60, according to the country’s human rights office. Rival factions, including the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), have been vying for control of the lucrative cocaine trade in the region, which lies near the Venezuelan border.

The attacks involved the ELN, the largest remaining armed group in Colombia, and the FARC, which had signed a peace treaty with the government in 2016. The violence has shattered an uneasy truce between the two guerrilla groups, which had been engaged in peace negotiations with the government. The conflict has escalated tensions in the region, further destabilizing the already volatile area.

The Ombudsman’s Office, a government agency responsible for protecting citizens’ human and civil rights, initially reported 40 deaths from the recent violence in Colombia’s Catatumbo region. The death toll has since risen to 60, with many people, including community leaders and their families, facing the threat of kidnapping or murder by the National Liberation Army (ELN). In fact, 20 individuals, including half a dozen women, were recently abducted by armed groups.

Among the victims were seven signatories of the 2016 peace treaty, and Carmelo Guerrero, the leader of the Association for Peasant Unity in Catatumbo (Asuncat), a local advocacy group. The organization also reported that two of its board members, Roger Quintero and Freiman Velasquez, had gone missing and were feared to have been taken by armed groups.

The violence has led to severe shortages of food and basic supplies in some communities, with thousands of people displaced. Vulnerable populations, including the elderly, children, pregnant women, and those with disabilities, are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

The Ombudsman’s Office has primarily blamed the ELN for the escalation of violence, especially after peace talks between the group and the Colombian government were suspended on Friday due to the ongoing conflict. President Gustavo Petro, who has made ending violence between armed groups a priority since taking office in 2022, condemned the ELN’s actions, calling them “war crimes” and accusing the group of showing no desire for peace.

The ELN, in turn, accused the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) of initiating the violence by killing civilians, although FARC has not yet responded publicly. In response to the violence, the Colombian army announced the deployment of additional troops to Catatumbo in an attempt to restore peace and security to the region.

Courtesy: BBC World News

References

• ^ Ritter, James M.; MacEwan, David; Flower, Rod; Robinson, Emma; Henderson, Graeme; Fullerton, James; Loke, Yoon Kong (2024). “What is pharmacology?”. Rang and Dale’s pharmacology (Tenth ed.). London New York Oxford: Elsevier. ISBN 978-0323873956.
• ^ H.P., Rang; M.M, Dale; J.M., Ritter; R.J., Flower; G., Henderson (2011). “What is Pharmacology”. Rang & Dale’s pharmacology (7 ed.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-7020-3471-8. a drug can be defined as a chemical substance of known structure, other than a nutrient of an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect
• ^ Jump up to:^a b “Drug”. Drug Definition & Meaning. The American Heritage Science Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company. Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2007 – via dictionary.com.
• ^ Atanasov AG, Waltenberger B, Pferschy-Wenzig EM, Linder T, Wawrosch C, Uhrin P, Temml V, Wang L, Schwaiger S, Heiss EH, Rollinger JM, Schuster D, Breuss JM, Bochkov V, Mihovilovic MD, Kopp B, Bauer R, Dirsch VM, Stuppner H (December 2015). “Discovery and resupply of pharmacologically active plant-derived natural products: A review”. Biotechnol Adv. 33 (8): 1582–614. doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2015.08.001. PMC 4748402. PMID 26281720.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b Mahoney A, Evans J (6 November 2008). “Comparing drug classification systems”. AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings: 1039. PMID 18999016.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b World Health Organization (2003). Introduction to drug utilization research (PDF). Geneva: World Health Organization. p. 33. ISBN 978-92-4-156234-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-22.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b Bergström, CA; Andersson, SB; Fagerberg, JH; Ragnarsson, G; Lindahl, A (16 June 2014). “Is the full potential of the biopharmaceutics classification system reached?”. European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 57: 224–31. doi:10.1016/j.ejps.2013.09.010. PMID 24075971.
• ^ “An overview of alcohol and other drug issues”. Archived from the original on 2015-03-28. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
• ^ Crocq MA (June 2003). “Alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and mental disorders”. Dialogues Clin. Neurosci. 5 (2): 175–185. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2003.5.2/macrocq. PMC 3181622. PMID 22033899.
• ^ “Recreational Drug”. The Free Dictionary. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
• ^ “MHRA Side Effects of Medicines.” Archived 2014-05-02 at the Wayback Machine MHRA Side Effects of Medicines,
• ^ Fox, Thomas Peter; Oliver, Govind; Ellis, Sophie Marie (2013). “The Destructive Capacity of Drug Abuse: An Overview Exploring the Harmful Potential of Drug Abuse Both to the Individual and to Society”. ISRN Addiction. 2013: 450348. doi:10.1155/2013/450348. PMC 4392977. PMID 25938116.
• ^ Harper, Douglas. “drug”. Online Etymology Dictionary.
• ^ Tupper KW (2012). “Psychoactive substances and the English language: “Drugs,” discourses, and public policy”. Contemporary Drug Problems. 39 (3): 461–492. doi:10.1177/009145091203900306. S2CID 55498558.
• ^ Corriente Córdoba, Federico (1997). Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic. Leiden: Brill Publishers. p. 130. ISBN 978-90-04-09846-6.
• ^ “Reflejos iberorromances del Andalusí (ḥṭr)” [Ibero-Romance reflections of the Andalusí (ḥṭr)]. Al-Andalus Magreb. I: 77–87. 1993.
• ^ Anders, V; et al. (2001–2020). “Droga”. Etimologías de Chile (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-17.
• ^ Zanders ED (2011). “Introduction to Drugs and Drug Targets”. The Science and Business of Drug Discovery. pp. 11–27. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9902-3_2. ISBN 978-1-4419-9901-6. PMC 7120710.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Schork, Nicholas J. (April 2015). “Personalized medicine: Time for one-person trials”. Nature. 520 (7549): 609–611. doi:10.1038/520609a. ISSN 1476-4687.
• ^ “About Registration: Medicines and Prescribing”. Health and Care Professions Council. Archived from the original on 2016-01-13. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
• ^ “Glossary of MHRA terms – P”. U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Archived from the original on 2008-11-14. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
• ^ “”Generic Drugs”, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration” (PDF). Fda.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
• ^ Entheogen, [dictionary.com], archived from the original on 2012-02-13, retrieved 2012-03-13
• ^ Valdés, Díaz & Paul 1983, p. 287.
• ^ Sobiecki, Jean-Francois (July 2012). “Psychoactive Spiritual Medicines and Healing Dynamics in the Initiation Process of Southern Bantu Diviners”. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 44 (3): 216–223. doi:10.1080/02791072.2012.703101. PMID 23061321. S2CID 32876088.
• ^ El-Seedi HR, De Smet PA, Beck O, Possnert G, Bruhn JG (October 2005). “Prehistoric peyote use: alkaloid analysis and radiocarbon dating of archaeological specimens of Lophophora from Texas”. J Ethnopharmacol. 101 (1–3): 238–42. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2005.04.022. PMID 15990261.
• ^ “A Brief History of the San Pedro Cactus”. Mescaline.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
• ^ Terry M (2013). “Lophophora williamsii”. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T151962A581420.en. Retrieved 2018-10-29.
• ^ Souza, Rafael Sampaio Octaviano de; Albuquerque, Ulysses Paulino de; Monteiro, Júlio Marcelino; Amorim, Elba Lúcia Cavalcanti de (October 2008). “Jurema-Preta (Mimosa tenuiflora [Willd.] Poir.): a review of its traditional use, phytochemistry and pharmacology”. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology. 51 (5): 937–947. doi:10.1590/S1516-89132008000500010.
• ^ Bloomquist, Edward (1971). Marijuana: The Second Trip. California: Glencoe.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b Abelman, D (6 October 2017). “Mitigating risks of students use of study drugs through understanding motivations for use and applying harm reduction theory: a literature review”. Harm Reduct J. 14 (1): 68. doi:10.1186/s12954-017-0194-6. PMC 5639593. PMID 28985738.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b Smith, M; Farah, M (September 2011). “Are prescription stimulants “smart pills”? The epidemiology and cognitive neuroscience of prescription stimulant use by normal healthy individuals”. Psychol. Bull. 137 (5): 717–41. doi:10.1037/a0023825. PMC 3591814. PMID 21859174.
• ^ Sharma, R. “Ritalin lung”. Radiopedia.org. Archived from the original on 30 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
• ^ “Discovery And Synthesis Of LSD: What You Probably Did Not Know About It – Chemistry Hall”. 2017-06-13. Archived from the original on 2017-06-13. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
• ^ Teale P, Scarth J, Hudson S (2012). “Impact of the emergence of designer drugs upon sports doping testing”. Bioanalysis. 4 (1): 71–88. doi:10.4155/bio.11.291. PMID 22191595.
• ^ Lingeman (1970). Drugs from A–Z: A Dictionary. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-7139-0136-8.
• ^ “DrugFacts: Hallucinogens – LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin, and PCP”. National Institute on Drug Abuse. December 2014. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
• ^ Morgan, CJ; Curran, HV; Independent Scientific Committee on, Drugs. (January 2012). “Ketamine use: a review”. Addiction. 107 (1): 27–38. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03576.x. PMID 21777321. S2CID 11064759.
• ^ “World Drug Report 2012” (PDF). UNODC. 2012. p. 69. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
• ^ Al-Mugahed, Leen (2008). “Khat Chewing in Yemen: Turning over a New Leaf: Khat Chewing Is on the Rise in Yemen, Raising Concerns about the Health and Social Consequences”. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 86 (10): 741–2. doi:10.2471/BLT.08.011008 (inactive 5 December 2024). PMC 2649518. PMID 18949206. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
• ^ “The administration of medicines”. Nursing Times. EMAP Publishing Limited. 19 November 2007. Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
• ^ “Animal Food & Feeds”. Fda.gov. Archived from the original on 22 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
• ^ “Narcotics Control Bureau”. 2009-04-10. Archived from the original on 2009-04-10. Retrieved 2020-09-12.