The violence erupted in a rural part of the San Vicente del Caguan municipality, where an oil field belonging to Emerald Energy was attacked and fire started by protesters, according to Colombia’s national police.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
Rural and Indigenous communities had blocked access to the oil field to demand the company, a subsidiary of China’s state-owned company Sinochem, help fix roads in the region. The officer and civilian killed in the protests died from gunshot wounds, police sources said, adding that FARC dissidents who reject a 2016 peace deal are present in the region and could be involved in the unrest.
Protests in areas close to oil and mining projects regularly occur in Colombia as communities push for companies to build infrastructure including roads and schools.Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered a joint commission from Colombia’s Defense and Interior ministries, as well as the armed forces, be dispatched to the region to put an end to the violence, he said on Twitter.