More than 32,000 people have fled to towns in northeast Colombia as they attempt to escape a sharp rise in fighting between militant factions, according to the country’s ombudsman.
Iris Marín said the violence escalated last week in the Catatumbo region, displacing tens of thousands of people. Hundreds more remain confined to their homes and are unable to evacuate due to the ferocity of the clashes, Marín warned Tuesday in a video statement.
Colombian authorities say 80 people have been killed in the fighting.
Almost half of those displaced have flocked to the city of Cúcuta near the Venezuelan border. Officials there have launched a major campaign to shelter the more than 15,000 people who have arrived in recent days.
In Cúcuta, the city’s football stadium has been turned into a large welcome center, with thousands of displaced victims lining up to receive food, water and clothing from locals.
Many are also sheltering in hotels and the homes of relatives, Cúcuta Mayor Jorge Acevedo said, pledging to support those in need.
“We are going to address the emergency that is occurring. Total solidarity, respect, affection and love for these human beings who are arriving in the city of Cúcuta,” Acevedo said.
Violence in strategic drug production territory
The humanitarian crisis is a direct result of increased clashes between the National Liberation Army – ELN – and spin-off groups of the disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Both factions were founded around the 1960s and ‘70s as left-wing guerrilla groups, but are now mostly involved in drug trafficking and other criminal activities, according to Elizabeth Dickinson, Colombia senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.
The Catatumbo region in northeastern Colombia, where the crisis originated, is a strategic territory for both drug production and trafficking due to its proximity with Venezuela. The region has seen some of the highest levels of violence in modern Colombian history.
In response to the violence, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has suspended peace talks with the ELN, whose actions he described as criminal. On Monday, he said he would declare a state of internal unrest, but that decree has yet to be published or signed.
The Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday reactivated arrest warrants for 31 ELN members who were involved in peace negotiations. The judicial body said the move was due to “the evidence and the seriousness of the criminal acts” in the Catatumbo region.
The arrest warrants had been suspended since 2022, when Petro restarted the peace process with that armed group.
Some have criticized Petro’s “total peace” initiative which has attempted to reduce violence partly through negotiations.
“The crisis in Catatumbo should be a wake-up call for the Petro administration. Its ‘total peace’, coupled with the lack of effective security and justice policies, have allowed armed groups to expand their presence and brutal control over remote communities across Colombia,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
Evacuation efforts
The Colombian cities of Ocaña and Tibú have also received 11,503 and 5,300 displaced people respectively, Colombia’s ombudsman Marín said Tuesday.
Other victims have fled to neighboring Venezuela, a country that in recent years has seen far more people leaving its borders than entering due to spiraling economic and political insecurity.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil said the country has implemented a humanitarian operation to help Colombian families that have arrived in the municipality of Jesus Maria Semprún near the border in recent days.
Colombia’s defense ministry said more than 400 evacuations have been carried out in the Catatumbo region since the uptick in fighting last week, while more than 5,000 soldiers and special forces unit have been deployed to Cúcuta.