Colombia is facing a new outbreak of violence between two armed groups which is testing the “total peace” program implemented by President Gustavo Petro when he came to power in 2022.
Published at 6:00 a.m.
What you need to know
- An outbreak of violence in northeastern Colombia fueled by rivalry between two armed groups has left nearly a hundred dead and forced tens of thousands to flee.
- The National Liberation Army (ELN) seeks to maintain control over a crucial area for drug trafficking in the face of the expansionist ambitions of dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who refused to lay down their arms in 2016 at the following an important peace agreement.
- The ELN’s action represents a setback for President Gustavo Petro, who when he came to power undertook to negotiate with the organization and other armed groups active in the country to convince them to definitively lay down their arms.
Fighters from the National Liberation Army (ELN), a far-left guerrilla group, launched a deadly offensive last week against dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who had refused to surrender their weapons during an important peace agreement concluded in 2016.
Laura Lizarazo, an analyst with the firm Control Risks, said Wednesday that the ELN wanted to maintain control of an area in the northeast of the country that is crucial for drug trafficking.
The ELN, she said, seeks to show its strength against the expansionist aims of FARC dissidents while intimidating local communities in the mountainous Catatumbo region, which abuts the border with Venezuela.
Nearly a hundred people, including several former guerrillas who had laid down their arms 20 years ago, were killed and tens of thousands were forced to flee.
PHOTO JUAN DIEGO CANO, PRESIDENCY OF COLOMBIA, PROVIDED BY AGENCE France-PRESSE
Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Bogotá on Tuesday
The Colombian head of state, himself a former guerrilla, ordered the suspension of long-standing peace talks with the ELN and the mobilization of thousands of soldiers to try to regain control of the situation.
At the same time, the authorities reactivated the arrest warrants that had been issued against around thirty guerrilla leaders to allow talks.
Mme Lizarazo notes that the government had made progress in its discussions with the ELN over the years, paving the way for several ceasefire periods, without succeeding in convincing its fighters to definitively lay down their arms.
A criminal organization, according to Petro
The far-left group took advantage, she said, of these periods of calm to develop its illegal activities and used the resulting income to strengthen itself militarily.
Gustavo Petro indicated on his X account that the ELN had gradually transformed into a criminal organization and was inspired in its actions by the famous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar.
The ELN has chosen war and it will have war. We, the government, are on the side of the people.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro on X
Ángel Tuirán-Sarmiento, professor of political science at the University of the North, in the city of Barranquilla, notes that the fight against the guerrillas is complicated by the fact that they have support allowing them to also operate on the Venezuelan side. of the border.
-He thinks that the Colombian state will seek, through its action, to restore the “precarious balance” which reigned in the region, but will have difficulty overcoming the guerrillas.
The government, adds the analyst, took too long to act when warnings of the risks of clashes in the area were increasing.
A criticized approach
According to Agence France-Presse, deadly battles have also taken place in recent days in the North between the ELN and a major drug trafficking cartel.
PHOTO SCHNEYDER MENDOZA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Empty house with graffiti reading “ELN (National Liberation Army) present” in Tibú
Breaking with the muscular approach of his predecessors, President Petro announced upon coming to power his desire to negotiate with far-left groups, drug traffickers and far-right militias still active in the territory after decades of civil war.
The approach has always been controversial and risks further criticism in light of the ELN’s actions, notes Mme Lizarazo. “Many people criticize the government for not having wanted to fight sooner against this guerrilla and other armed groups,” notes the analyst, who would be surprised to see the president sketch a mea culpa on this subject.
Mr. Petro said the situation in the Catatumbo region “was instructive” and represented a “failure of the nation” as a whole.
Ángel Tuirán-Sarmiento believes that the head of state will have difficulty considering resuming talks with the ELN after the current episode of violence.
PHOTO SCHNEYDER MENDOZA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A woman walks past a banner reading “no more blood” in Tibú, in the Catatumbo region, Colombia.
Pressure from the United States
Many Colombians were against the negotiation before the current crisis and “skepticism will spread,” says the analyst.
Gustavo Petro also risks being subjected to increased pressure from the United States with the return to power of President Donald Trump, he says.
The new US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has been critical in the past of the moderate approach adopted by the government and is likely to demand more muscular intervention to stem drug trafficking.
Mme Lizarazo notes that the Colombian government has limited its efforts to eradicate coca plants, preferring to target traffickers who organize the processing of the leaves so as not to penalize disadvantaged farmers who see it as a way to make a living.
Every year, the United Nations lists Colombia among the largest cocaine-producing countries on the planet. The international organization recently indicated that the area used for coca production had reached the highest level observed in 20 years in 2023.
