Guerrilla fighter killed in a border clash between GNB and ELN, Venezuela

A confrontation between members of the Colombian guerrilla group National Liberation Army (ELN) and troops from Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) left one person dead and several others wounded in southeastern Venezuela near the Colombian border, according to the human rights NGO Fundaredes.

The clash took place on Monday in the locality of Junín. Javier Tarazona, director of Fundaredes, told AFP that reports indicated “five injured and one deceased.” The wounded were transferred from Junín to the nearby city of Rubio in Táchira state, where they received treatment at a local clinic.

This marks the first reported confrontation between Venezuelan security forces and the ELN since Abelardo de la Espriella assumed the presidency of Colombia. Tarazona, who previously spent five years in prison for denouncing guerrilla activities in the border region, provided the information to the agency.

Authorities have not yet publicly released the identities of the victims or the precise circumstances of the exchange of gunfire.