Roughly 300 peasants were armed with machetes and automatic rifles, and according to police, two peasants and four guards were killed at the Paso del Aguán ranch on Sunday. Then on Monday, police found the bodies of five more peasants, three men and two women, in a trash dump near the ranch.

A national land reform organization said local peasant groups should not be blamed for the attacks; meanwhile, Marco Ramiro Lobo, the legal adviser to the National Agrarian Institute, said, “What is happening at this moment has nothing to do with these organizations … It is the result of individuals who have committed criminal acts and must be held accountable and punished.”

The Aguán Valley in Colón has recently been plagued by land conflicts. Police data indicates that more than 50 people have been killed in land disputes in Colon in the past 14 months.

Security Secretary Óscar Álvarez said 1,000 soldiers and police officers were sent to the area, “Arms will be taken away immediately from people who carry weapons of war and weapons without permits.”