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Bloody Clashes Erupt in Colombia’s Catatumbo Region
Over 80 people were killed and thousands displaced in Colombia’s Catatumbo region as clashes erupted between ELN rebels and ex-FARC fighters following failed peace talks.
Colombian army patrolling the streets, military forces on urban patrol in Colombia, soldiers securing the streets in Colombia, army troops conducting street patrol, Colombian military presence in urban areas. Stock photo by Getty images
More than 80 people have been killed in three days of fighting in northeast Colombia after failed attempts to hold peace talks with the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN), an official said on Sunday.
The ELN launched an assault in the northeastern Catatumbo region last Thursday on a rival group made up of ex-members of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who continued fighting after disarming in 2017. Civilians were caught in the crossfire, and by Sunday “more than 80 people have lost their lives,” Governor William Villamizar of the Norte de Santander department said.
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The death toll reported on Saturday was about 60, including seven former FARC fighters, across five municipalities in the mountainous, cocaine-producing region near the Venezuelan border. Among the victims were community leader Carmelo Guerrero and seven people who had sought to sign a peace deal, a government ombudsman agency reported late on Saturday.
Thousands of residents are fleeing the area, with some hiding in nearby mountains and others seeking help at government shelters. Villamizar said roughly two dozen people had been injured and about 5,000 displaced, calling the humanitarian situation “alarming.” “Catatumbo needs help,” he said, describing families arriving with nothing by truck, motorcycle or on foot to escape the fighting.
The army said more than 5,000 soldiers have been deployed to the region to reinforce security. Army commander General Luis Emilio Cardozo Santamaria said authorities were strengthening a humanitarian corridor between Tibu and Cucuta for the safe passage of those forced to flee and that special urban soldiers had been deployed to municipal centers “where there are risks and a lot of fear.”
The 2016 peace deal saw FARC disarm after more than half a century of war, but violence has persisted as leftist groups, FARC holdouts, right-wing paramilitaries and drug cartels contest resources and trafficking routes. The ELN has accused ex-FARC rebels of several killings in the area, including the January 15 slaying of a couple and their nine-month-old baby. In a statement on Saturday the ELN said it had warned former FARC members that if they continued attacking the population … there was no other way out than armed confrontation.
The ELN has also clashed recently with the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest drug cartel, in a separate northern region, leaving at least nine dead. The latest violence led President Gustavo Petro on Friday to call off negotiations with the ELN in his pursuit of total peace.
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Editor’s Note:
The escalating violence in Colombia’s Catatumbo region underscores the fragility of the nation’s peace process and the persistent challenges posed by armed groups vying for control of lucrative drug-trafficking routes. As civilians bear the brunt of the conflict, the international community’s attention and humanitarian support are crucial to prevent further suffering and displacement.
