At least 80 people have been killed and thousands displaced in northeastern Colombia, with the collapse of a fragile ceasefire between rebel groups vying for control of one of the country's biggest cocaine hubs.
Violence between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels has escalated rapidly in the lawless region bordering Venezuela since Thursday, forcing at least 5,000 people to flee their homes.
Norte de Santander region governor William Villamizar said schools have been suspended indefinitely as classrooms have become emergency shelters for families evacuated from their homes and the region requests emergency humanitarian assistance. He said that it has been done.
Dozens of civilians were injured and 20 people, including 10 women, were kidnapped, according to Colombia's Ombudsman's Office.
At least 3,000 people have been evacuated in Tib, according to local mayor Richard Claro.
“We see countless families who have lost their children, and even more tragically, children who have lost their parents,” Claro said. “Children and elderly people are crying as they leave their farms and crops behind. It's heartbreaking.”
“Due to the continued violence, we are unable to even bury the victims with dignity because we are unable to access the area to collect the bodies.”
The current clashes are among the worst in Colombia since the country's first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, took office in 2022 on a promise to bring the country “total peace.”
Petro on Thursday ended on-going negotiations with the ELN, Colombia's oldest active armed group, after the rebels were accused of killing five members of a rival drug-trafficking group.
Anxiety escalated rapidly.
Among those killed were local community leaders and seven former rebel fighters who laid down their arms in a 2016 peace agreement with the FARC. The agreement officially ends a 60-year conflict that left 450,000 people dead and millions more displaced.
But since then, the country has not regained control of the former Farc stronghold, allowing other armed groups, including the ELN and dissident Farc forces, to interfere in the cocaine trade, the Bogotá-based said Gerson Arias, a researcher at the Ideas for Peace think tank.
Catatumbo's rich coca harvest and strategic location on the Venezuelan border have made it a constant hotbed of violence, and Arias says tensions between rebel groups have long been high. “This war will last a long time,” he said.
The 33rd Front of the Farc rebel group, which has expanded rapidly in recent years, has occasionally clashed with the ELN in the area and has sought to buy support from local communities in ELN strongholds by building soccer fields and bridges.
An audio recording released on Sunday showed Andrei Avedaño, one of the commanders of the 33rd Front, declaring all-out war against the ELN. “War is imposed on us, and we must fight those who imposed it on us.” Avedaño appears to have said this in the recording.
colombian army said On Saturday, it was announced that 300 troops were being sent to the border area to quell the violence.
Petro has promised to bring all major armed groups to the negotiating table rather than pursuing them militarily, but this plan has so far made little progress, with the conflict in Catatumbo continuing to simmer with the ELN. This is likely to be the key to the negotiations. That's the whole strategy, Arias said.
“There is currently no way for the government to come to the negotiating table with the ELN… All other negotiations are already in jeopardy, and this development will only further complicate them. The complete peace strategy is over. ”
