Eleven months after the wave of violence that emptied entire sidewalks and turned Catatumbo into the largest source of displacement in the country, the calendar marks another Christmas under fire. Despite the announcements of a ceasefire between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the 33rd Front of the FARC dissidents for the end of the year, rural communities have once again been caught in armed confrontations that have generated displacements, confinements and a renewed humanitarian drama in territories such as Tibú, El Tarra, Convencion, Teorama and San Calixto. According to the Ombudsman’s Office, at least 250 people have left their territories in the last week.
The crisis, which was revived in December, is part of a sustained escalation of violence that, from January to November, had caused the displacement of at least 87,000 people in the region, according to the organization Vivamos Humanos. In several rural areas, violence has made access to essential services difficult, with interruptions in health care, making it difficult for medical brigades to arrive and access to care centers, classes in rural schools being canceled due to the risk of combat, and problems transporting food to the villages. Although the presence of state forces has increased in some humanitarian corridors, these measures have not been sufficient to guarantee safe movements or stop armed actions.
The Ombudsman’s Office, through its Humanitarian alerts are not limited to recent displacements. Organizations such as the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) have reported that, in addition to the nearly 250 people who have left their territories in recent days, around 6,000 inhabitants are at imminent risk of confinement or being forced to move due to the intensification of fighting.
The Catatumbo subregion, in the department of Norte de Santander, is a strategic region due to its position on the border with Venezuela and its central role in the illicit economies that feed armed groups. The mountainous geography and porosity of the border facilitate the transit of people and goods to both sides, turning the area into a key corridor for drug trafficking and supplies linked to cocaine production. According to the UN Integrated Illicit Crop Monitoring System, the region concentrates at least 42,000 hectares of coca leaf crops, one of the largest areas in the country and an indicator of the relevance of this territory in the cocaine production and trafficking chains.
The crisis that broke out in Catatumbo on January 16, 2025 translated from its first days into the largest waves of violence and displacement in the country. According to humanitarian reports, around 40,000 people were displaced during the first week of confrontations alone. The magnitude of the emergency led the Government to declare a state of internal commotion and order Operation Catatumbo, with the deployment of troops to try to control the situation and evacuate civilians trapped in the fighting. The situation, although it left the media spotlight, did not completely cease throughout the year. Not even in December, when both illegal groups announced their routine unilateral cessations for the season.
Precisely due to the humanitarian emergency in Catatumbo at the beginning of the year, President Gustavo Petro formally suspended talks with that guerrilla last January after considering that their actions in that region of the country constituted “war crimes” and that “he has no desire for peace.” However, the Executive has maintained an open channel with the FARC dissident faction of the General Staff of Blocks and Front (EMBD) led by alias Calarcá Córdoba. Although these dialogues have had intermittent progress—such as the parties’ agreement to remain seated at the table and evaluations of negotiation cycles—they have also faced obstacles, including the Government’s decision not to extend the bilateral ceasefire with the same structure in April 2025, which reflected tensions and limitations in the process.
Four months later, in May, the Government attempted to consolidate a Temporary Location Zone (ZUT) in the rural area of Tibú, designed for some 500 combatants from the 33rd Front to concentrate there as part of a process of laying down their weapons and transitioning to civilian life. The decree, signed by President Gustavo Petro, established a period of 45 days for the combatants to complete the unification in the area, with the possibility of extending it until December if the agreed conditions were met, in what the Executive presented as progress in its Total Peace policy. However, the process also revealed internal fractures in the dissidents: while the commander of the 33rd Front defended the initiative as a step to facilitate the return of thousands of displaced people, Calarcá Córdoba rejected the decree arguing that it was not agreed upon at the negotiating table. One of the most advanced tables in the negotiation with the Executive is, once again, in limbo due to the attacks on the civilian population.
Regarding the new spike in violence, the Government’s peace delegation that negotiates with dissidents issued a statement expressing its concern about armed actions in the region. “The peace process being carried out with the EMBF is aimed at ending the violence and transforming the territories. This purpose is seriously hampered when it is developed under the constant pressure of those who benefit from the continuity of the dynamics of violence and illegal economies.”
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