
A major escalation of violence in Colombia’s northeastern Catatumbo region since 16 January has left more than 80 people dead and forced more than 32,000 from their homes in fighting between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and a faction of the Estado Mayor Central (EMC) that now uses the acronym EMBF.
In response, the government of Gustavo Petro declared a form of ‘state of internal commotion’ and deployed security personnel to the region. The crisis has seen a number of social activists and former FARC members in the peace process killed, alongside cases of forced recruitment and threats towards community leaders. Six former FARC members in the peace process have been killed during the violence.
The two groups involved in the fighting have been participating in separate peace talks with the Colombian government under its flagship Total Peace policy. The government subsequently suspended the ELN peace process.
The crisis erupted on 16 January, when armed assailants killed an entire family as they travelled between the region’s largest city, Cucuta, and the town of Tibu, both of which are close to the border with Venezuela. That same day, at least four former FARC members were killed. On 23 January, 16 former FARC members in the process were evacuated from the official transition zone in Tibu, where they had been trapped by fighting. The mayor of Cucuta said that, although conflict had impacted the region previously, the current scale of violence was unprecedented. Around 46,000 children have been left unable to attend school.
The ‘state of internal commotion’ decreed by the government revolves around military deployment and enactment of humanitarian measures, as well as the advancement of existing programmes in regional development and illicit crop substitution, both of which are core components of the 2016 peace agreement. Delays in implementation of the agreement, particularly under the 2018-22 government of Iván Duque, have exacerbated the insecurity crisis in several regions of Colombia. The interior ministry said that it would prioritise supporting displaced families, protecting social activists and ensuring commitments to former FARC members were fulfilled.
In a statement on the crisis, Colombia’s main trade union federation, the CUT, said it ‘reiterate[s] our unbreakable commitment to continue fighting for a political solution and the construction of territorial peace that respects dignified life and the rights of all communities in Catatumbo’. It also urged armed groups to ‘not neglect this opportunity to advance in processes of peace agreements’.
Catatumbo has a high concentration of mineral resources, particularly oil, and agriculture, including illicit coca production. A strategic border location and the historic lack of state development have contributed to the longstanding presence of armed groups in the region. Local populations have long suffered from the impact of conflict. JFC delegations have previously visited the region.
The alarming situation in Catatumbo demonstrates the importance of maintaining peace dialogues with armed groups and what can happen when these talks stall or break down, as well as the urgent need to protect the lives of former FARC members in the peace process. Earlier this month, the United Nations published its latest quarterly report on the peace process, in which it registered 441 former FARC guerrillas murdered since the signing of the 2016 peace agreement, a figure which does not include the recent Catatumbo cases.