Authorities are investigating whether it is a retaliation of a criminal group that operates in clandestine border crossings.
A dance that took place in the border town of Santa Fe, located in Ipiales (Colombia), next to Urbina (Ecuador), 30 minutes from Tulcán, was startled on Sunday night when an artisanal explosive was activated.
The discharge left 23 people injured, confirmed Amilcar Pantoja, Government Secretary of the Department of Nariño, who added that most of those affected have already left the health centers and two more are still being treated.
However, journalists from the neighboring country who visited the Civil Hospital of Ipiales and the Las Lajas clinic maintain that there were 34 injured people who arrived at that care home.
An Ecuadorian minor who was in the place suffered the greatest consequences of the outbreak, and due to the complexity of his condition, he will be transferred from the Ipiales hospital to the city of Pasto, in Colombia.
David Tarapués, manager of the Luis Gabriel Dávila Hospital, reported that nine wounded arrived at this place and were treated by the doctors; They had injuries caused by shrapnel. Once treated, all left the sanatorium.
The first information revealed that, while residents of Colombia and Ecuador were enjoying the party in that community, the homemade device was thrown, causing injuries to the attendees.
Pantoja explained that the Colombian Police is investigating this unusual event, which generates fear in this part of the Colombian-Ecuadorian border.
The carriage route between Tulcán-Urbina-Santa Fe and Ipiales, until before the opening of the Rumichaca international bridge on December 17, 2021, was one of the alternatives to move towards Tulcán and Ipiales.
Departmental official Pantoja was consulted if it could be a retaliation by organized armed groups or the Aragua Train, which are trying to control this sector of the border, and indicated that the investigations will establish what is happening.
This route that joins the two countries on the Colombian side became dangerous the previous year due to the presence of transnational gangs dedicated to the trafficking of migrants, drugs, money and weapons.
A group made up of former militiamen and common criminals who used the façade of a Colombian guerrilla group was apprehended by the Colombian military in that place when they extorted money from travelers who used these trails.
Heavily armed and wearing military uniforms, they were surprised at a kind of toll booth in Santa Fe, where they demanded vaccinations (money) from Ecuadorians who circulated in the sector when they went to Ipiales or returned to Tulcán.
The drivers of a hundred Colombian vehicles that offered this service between Urbina-Santa Fe and Ipiales also fell prey to these antisocials. Fifteen days ago, a house located a few meters from where the device exploded this Sunday suffered an attack.
The Aragua Train, a criminal organization made up of Venezuelan criminals who have ramifications on the borders with Ecuador, Peru, Chile and the Colombian-Venezuelan border, is also being investigated, even more so when several of the Tulcán and Ipiales terminals have been apprehended. its members, accused of human trafficking and micro-trafficking, and tried by the courts of both countries.
an isolated incident
Pantoja pointed out that this Sunday’s incident, recorded after 8:00 p.m., is outside the armed conflict; while Giovanni Fajardo, manager of the Ipiales hospital, confirmed that the situation of the three-year-old Ecuadorian infant who was injured and sheltered in that health home is critical.
Diego Hernández, commander of the Andes Brigade, based in Tulcán, toured the border sector of Urbina, reporting that the population is calm. It was also confirmed that, among the nine people who arrived injured at the Luis Dávila hospital, four adults and one child are of Ecuadorian nationality, and all were discharged within a few hours.
Yaco Martínez, governor of Carchi, said that President Guillermo Lasso decided to redouble efforts to prevent the passage of prohibited substances, weapons, contraband and migrants. Fabián Fuel, commander of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, led a mirror operation with his peers from the Cabal Cavalry Group, from Ipiales, through these unauthorized border points.
Apparently, everything is due to the dispute over territorial control over migrant smuggling: Venezuelan citizens who go to the south of the continent and Haitians, Asians and Africans who try to reach the US, coming from Peru and Brazil. (I)
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