Eln armed strike: rewards for attacks in Cesar - Other Cities - Colombia

The Minister of the Interior, Daniel Palacios, offered a reward of 100 million pesos for information that would identify and capture the members of the Eln, the Front Camilo Torreswho would be responsible for the recent attacks in Cesar.

(Also read: The Eln set fire to a construction material company in Chiriguaná (Cesar))

The announcement was made after analyzing the critical public order situation in this section of the Colombian Caribbean, within the framework of an extraordinary security council, led by the senior official in Pailitas, where the largest number of attacks were recorded.

It has been detected that this person would be the one who was at the forefront of these violent actions

“We also announced that more public force personnel will arrive in this area of ​​Cesar; We will double the force of the National Police in the municipality of Pailitas and, in addition, five members of the Judicial Police will arrive to support the efforts to prosecute these bandits,” explained the senior official.

The security meeting was also attended by Brigadier General Gerardo Melo Barrera, commander of the Army’s First Division; General Hoover Penilla, director in charge of the National Police; the departmental government secretary, Eduardo Esquivel, and Carlos Javier Toro, mayor of Pailitas, among others.

Within the rewards there is another of up to 30 million pesos for whoever provides data on the whereabouts of alias ‘Goyo’, who would be the coordinator of the attacks in this area of ​​the country.

“According to the investigations of the authorities, it has been detected that this person would be the one who was at the forefront of these violent actions. The information must be provided to the Sijin and CTI, which are the specialized bodies to advance in this information process,” said Eduardo Esquivel, secretary of the departmental government.

(You may be interested: Eln burned two more trucks in Pailitas (Cesar))

It is increased from two to four platoons, reaching 160 Army uniforms with whom the corridor to Catatumbo is covered.

According to the report delivered by the Government of Cesar, during the last few days, the military presence has exceeded more than a thousand soldiers. on the path of the sunwho seek to prevent further acts of terror.

“It is increased from two to four platoons, reaching 160 Army uniforms with whom the corridor to Catatumbo is covered and they maintain joint tasks with the Police to guarantee the tranquility of urban and rural areas,” stressed Andrés Meza Araújo, governor (e) of Caesar.

Install metal bridge

Since last Saturday, a semi-permanent metal bridge was installed at kilometer 44 of the section Pailitas – Curumani (Cesar), which allowed to recover the road mobility of cargo carriers and other vehicles, which were affected after the attack on the Trujillo bridge, located in Pailitas.

The structure was transferred from the department of Caldas, it has a capacity of 52 tons for a traffic lane.

The installation was done between the National Institute of Roads (Invías), with the support of the National Army.

“Those were days of great tension, but thank God calm returned to the population. This situation affected the entire community and the commercial sector. We are a purely agricultural municipality and the producers of the countryside could not go out to market their crops. All the transportation of bovine on foot was frustrated during these days, “said Elecxo Trigos, secretary of the municipal government of Pailitas.

​Ludys Ovalle Jácome
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Valledupar

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China Eyes Risks and Rewards of US-Russia Standoff Over Ukraine

LONDON — 

China is watching with growing interest as Russia and the West face off over Ukraine. With more than 100-thousand Russian troops deployed on the Ukrainian border, there is growing concern among Western nations that the Kremlin is planning an imminent invasion. Moscow has denied any such plans.

Western nations have threatened unprecedented economic sanctions against Moscow if it invades Ukraine. If cut off by the West, could Russia look east, to China, for help? Professor Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, says Beijing is ready to step in.

“China under Xi Jinping has a clear policy of making the world safe for autocrats. And China under Xi Jinping also believes itself to be a leading socialist country now and it has a soft spot for former socialist countries. So, Russia under (President Vladimir) Putin ticks two boxes that make Russia very deserving of Chinese support.”

WATCH: China Weighs Risks, Rewards of US-Russia Standoff Over Ukraine

“The policy I think China is likely to take is to do whatever they can to help the Russians to face up to the economic sanctions that the U.S. and Europeans may impose on Russia. (However) I think economic links between Russia and China are not really strong enough to replace any break of economic links between Russia and Europe,” Tsang told VOA.

Moscow-Beijing coordination

Beijing is engaged in its own territorial disputes in Asia and has offered political support for Moscow.

“This foreign policy coordination will definitely increase,” says analyst Dmitry Suslov of Russia’s National Research University in Moscow. “Because from the Russian perspective, intensification of the military partnership between Russia and China is precisely one of the major pains which Russia can inflict to the United States and NATO in order to compel them to compromise,” Suslov said at a recent panel discussion on Ukraine, organized by the London-based policy group Chatham House.

NATO states are mulling increased troop deployments in eastern European member states to deter Russia. The United States has put further 8,500 troops on alert for possible deployment to Europe.

Taiwan

China is closely watching NATO and America’s response to any Russian invasion, says security analyst Julie Norman of University College London. “Even though there’s these troop deployments to Eastern European states, no states are talking about directly sending troops into Ukraine itself to defend it. And of course, China’s taking note of that, with some of their own territorial disputes in their own areas,” Norman told VOA.

Taiwan is China’s biggest territorial dispute — and there is a risk of miscalculation as Beijing watches events unfold in Ukraine, says Steve Tsang.

“The Chinese seeing the Americans and the Europeans talking big but not doing very much about it… would embolden them over Taiwan and potentially miscalculate what the American response to a crisis over Taiwan might be.”

China’s Belt and Road

Despite their mutual rivalry with the United States, China’s and Russia’s interests don’t always align. China has also invested billions of dollars in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which could be at risk in the event of any conflict.

Beijing’s multitrillion-dollar “Belt and Road” initiative’ cuts through several former Soviet bloc states, including Ukraine. A direct rail and ferry freight link opened in 2016, linking China with Illichivsk port on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast via Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, bypassing Russia.

Ukraine is a major exporter of grains to China. By 2025, Beijing and Kyiv aim to increase bilateral trade by 50 percent, to $20 billion per year. China has also funded infrastructure projects, including a new metro line for Kyiv. If Russia invades Ukraine, could Beijing’s investments in the region be at risk? For now, China is showing little concern, says Tsang.

“The more immediate impact on the Belt and Road initiative would in fact be the Russian military intervention in Kazakhstan. And the Chinese government have actually shown that they are quite relaxed and comfortable with that. To them, it’s more important to support authoritarian states and autocrats to stay in power than for some of them to be closer to Russia than to China, at the moment. Over the longer term, things may change,” Tsang said.

In the short term, analysts say, China is keen to keep a lid on the simmering tensions for at least the next few weeks, as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics starting February 4.

China Weighs Risks, Rewards of US-Russia Standoff Over Ukraine

China is watching with interest as Russia and the West face off over Ukraine. Beijing is engaged in its own territorial disputes and has offered political support for Moscow. But as Henry Ridgwell reports, China has also invested billions of dollars in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which could be at risk in the event of any conflict.

China's 'Belt and Road' Risk in Syria May Reap Big Rewards

WASHINGTON — 

Syria, a country torn by civil war, recently joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a move analysts say reflects China’s growing interest in the Middle East.

Through BRI, China has been investing in and building infrastructure on several continents to realize its vision of land and sea trade routes linking Asia to the rest of the world.

By staking its claim in Syria, experts contend, China can increase its influence in the Middle East, realize its goal of reestablishing its ancient Silk Road trade route and perhaps gain additional energy sources.

The agreement between China and Syria, finalized January 12 in a ceremony in Damascus, “would help [Syrian President Bashar] Assad to break out of its diplomatic isolation. It would help Assad get more investments, said Ibrahim Al-Assil, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

China’s Middle East interests

Syria’s admission to BRI is part of a larger Chinese strategy to ascertain influence in the Middle East, experts say.

“Syria’s location offers a huge leverage for China. When any international player, if they have a leverage in Syria first, they can get some leverage over so many of its neighbors. We’re talking about Turkey which is important for China. We’re talking about Iraq, where more than 10% of China’s oil comes from. We’re talking about Israel. We’re talking about Jordan. We’re also talking about some global powers in Syria like Russia and the United States. So it’s more of geo-economic interests than just the pure economic interests for China to increase its investments in Syria,” Al-Assil told VOA.

FILE – Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, right, receives his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the airport in the capital Damascus, July 17, 2021.

As of December, 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa have joined the BRI. Experts say the inclusion of the Middle East in the initiative is rooted in Chinese history and is a symbolic move for Beijing.

“China is trying to reconstitute the ancient Silk Road, and Syria was part of the Silk Road, so that was something that was emphasized in the announcement that China had with Syria,” David Sacks, research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA.

There are also economic interests.

“China has become a net importer of energy in 1993, and in 2017, it became the largest crude oil importer in the world, and almost half of that oil, 47% to 48%, comes from the Middle East. And that’s why the Middle East is going to just rise in significance in the next decade for China,” Al-Assil said.

Filling the US gaps

Syria’s participation would help China’s Middle Eastern strategy as the United States leaves a smaller footprint in the region. In December, the U.S. ended its combat mission in Iraq and transitioned to an “advise, assist and enable” role for Iraqi forces.

“For China to have more leverage in the region, it needs to look at where the U.S. is disengaging and try to increase its diplomatic presence and economic presence in those gaps, or those subregions of the Middle East, and that’s where Syria comes in,” Al-Assil told VOA.

Syria-China relations

The diplomatic relationship between Beijing and Damascus dates to 1956, and ties between the two countries continued during the Syrian civil war.

China, along with Russia, has repeatedly exercised its permanent veto power on the U.N. Security Council to block resolutions imposing sanctions on the Syrian government concerning the use of chemical weapons.

In 2016, the Chinese military agreed to support the Assad government with training and humanitarian assistance, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Syria and China also share intelligence because of China’s fears of radicalized Muslim Uyghurs from China fighting in Syria.

The inclusion of Syria in BRI “provides the greatest contribution to the economic reconstruction and social development in Syria,” stated Feng Biao, China’s ambassador to Syria, according to Xinhua.

China’s risky investment

Any form of Chinese investment in Syria, however, is a risk because of the country’s dire financial situation, analysts say.

“I don’t think the Chinese will be able to get any real return on any investments inside Syria. The economy is still shattered, the country is fragmented, the corruption is deep within the Syrian state institutions, and that is not going to change anytime soon with the current conditions,” Al-Assil said.

“It seems highly unlikely Syria would be in any position to repay major loans for infrastructure in the future,” Sacks told VOA.

Geopolitical consequences

Some analysts say Syria’s participation in BRI reveals how China and its longtime ally Russia are showcasing a united foreign policy front. Moscow entered the Syrian conflict in 2015 in support of the Assad regime.

“I don’t think that this will force a rethink of U.S. policy towards the country,” Sacks said. “But clearly what it does show is that China and Russia are increasingly acting in lockstep on the global stage, and that’s becoming increasingly clear in Europe, in Central Asia and now in the Middle East as well.”

Others, however, including Al-Assil, say closer ties between China and Syria could create a rift between Beijing and Moscow, referencing the Chinese foreign minister’s high-profile visit in July to Syria and Russia’s adverse reaction to it.

“The Russian reaction wasn’t encouraging because they felt that the regime didn’t coordinate with them and that the regime was trying to seek other great power support,” Al-Assil told VOA.

Russian media, Al-Assil added, criticized the Chinese move and emphasized that the future of Assad was linked only to Russia and that “Russia would have the upper hand.”

Whether it is investing in diplomacy or infrastructure, China is taking a risk in Syria, experts say, but it’s all part of Beijing’s larger strategic calculus in the region.

VOA’s Elizabeth Lee contributed to this report.