More than 80 dead in Colombia guerrilla onslaught as peace talks falter, says official

BOGOTA – A fresh outbreak of guerrilla violence amid a faltering peace process in conflict-riddled Colombia has left more than 80 people dead in just over three days, officials reported on Jan 19.

The National Liberation Army (ELN) armed group launched an assault in the north-eastern Catatumbo region on Jan 16 on a rival formation comprising former members of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, guerrilla force who kept fighting after it disarmed in 2017.

Civilians were trapped in the middle, and by Jan 19, it was estimated that “more than 80 people have lost their lives”, said Governor William Villamizar of the Norte de Santander department that includes Catatumbo.

The last toll on Jan 18 was estimated at 60 people, including seven former Farc combatants, in five municipalities of the mountainous cocaine-producing region near the border with Venezuela.

Mr Villamizar said about two dozen people had been injured and around 5,000 displaced in the fresh outbreak of violence, and described the resulting humanitarian situation as “alarming”.

The army said more than 5,000 soldiers have been sent to the region to “reinforce security”.

The Farc – once the largest guerrilla force in the Western Hemisphere – disarmed under a 2016 peace deal reached after more than half-a-century of war.

But the pact failed to extinguish the violence involving leftist guerrillas – including Farc holdouts – right-wing paramilitaries and drug cartels over resources and trafficking routes in some regions of the country.

The ELN has in recent days also clashed with the Gulf Clan, the largest drug cartel in the world’s biggest cocaine producer, leaving at least nine dead in a different part of northern Colombia.

The latest violence prompted President Gustavo Petro on Jan 17 to call off negotiations initiated with the ELN in his pursuit of “total peace”.

With a force of about 5,800 combatants, the ELN is one of the biggest armed groups still active in Colombia. It has taken part in failed peace negotiations with Colombia’s last five governments.

‘War crimes’

The ombudsman’s office in Colombia said on Jan 18 that some residents of the affected regions were “taking refuge in the mountains”.

The office warned that people, including “peace signatories, social leaders and their families, and even children, face a special risk of being kidnapped or killed”.

While professing to be driven by leftist, nationalist ideology, the ELN is deeply involved in the drug trade and has become one of the region’s most powerful organised crime groups.

Talks with the ELN broke down for several months in 2024 after the group launched a deadly attack on a military base.

Following the latest round of fighting, Mr Petro said on Jan 17 that the ELN “shows no willingness to make peace” in a post on social media platform X that also accused the group of committing “war crimes”.

More than 2,500 people have fled the violence to the town of Tibu, the town’s mayor said Jan 18.

Temporary shelters were opened around Tibu to house displaced people who arrived in flat-bed trucks or cramped on motorbikes, some carrying household belongings on their backs.

“We are very afraid for the children and that we will be caught in the middle of the conflict,” Madam Carmelina Perez, 62, who had escaped with her grandchildren, told AFP.

Across the border, Venezuela announced the launch of “a special operation to assist the civilian population displaced from Colombia”, according to a government statement.

Foreign Minister Yvan Gil told state TV that “hundreds of families” have been forced to take refuge in Venezuela, itself torn by economic and political upheaval. AFP