80 killed in Colombia’s deadliest wave of violence since peace accords

BOGOTÁ, Colombia – More than 80 people have been killed, and about 20,000 displaced, in ongoing clashes between armed groups in Colombia, officials say, marking one of the deadliest waves of violence since the country’s 2016 peace accords.

The escalated fighting between rival guerrilla groups in Catatumbo, a northeast coca-growing region near the Venezuelan border, delivers a devastating blow to the “total peace” program of the country’s first leftist president, Gustavo Petro.

It could also fuel tensions with the administration of President Donald Trump, whose allies have been critical of Petro’s approach to the country’s conflict and his inability to control the surging levels of cocaine production across Colombia.

Since late last week, the fighting in Catatumbo has spurred thousands to flee the region and has even forced some local residents to cross the border into Venezuela. At least 20 people have been wounded, according to local officials, and others have been kidnapped or threatened. The victims include local community leaders, children and “civilians who are accused of collaborating with one group or the other simply because they are family members or people close to them,” according to the head of Colombia’s ombudsman’s office, Iris Marín Ortiz.

Petro, a former guerrilla member who took office in 2022, vowed to pursue an ambitious plan for “total peace,” an attempt to simultaneously negotiate with multiple armed groups that have continued to plague the country with violence long after Colombia’s 2016 peace accords with its largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

At least 5,000 people have fled to the border city of Cúcuta, arriving in caravans of trucks late into the night, the city’s mayor said.

The fighting in recent days in Catatumbo is primarily between two armed groups: the National Liberation Army, or ELN, the country’s largest remaining leftist guerrilla group; and a splinter group from the FARC that did not participate in the government’s 2016 peace accords. The two groups have historically competed for control in the region but had maintained a truce in recent years.

Catatumbo is a strategic battleground for both organizations, providing them with access to smuggling routes across the border into Venezuela, where armed groups have operated freely in recent years.

The ELN was the first armed group to agree to Petro’s negotiations. But those talks have repeatedly collapsed. As fighting erupted in Catatumbo, Petro suspended negotiations with the group.

“The fact that this falls apart is a real but also symbolic blow to total peace,” Dickinson said. “It was this one thing that Petro thought maybe he could do, and now they’re leading the charge to unravel the whole strategy.”

In a post on X on Monday, Petro said the violence in Catatumbo is the latest example of “the transition from insurgent guerrillas to narco-armed organizations.”

“It is up to the current army, the army of the constitution, to save and protect the population of Catatumbo from the ELN, its murderer,” Petro said. “The ELN has chosen the path of war, and war will come. We, the government, are on the side of the people.”

Venezuela announced it will reinforce troops along the border, and its foreign minister, Yván Gil, announced that the country would provide humanitarian assistance to those who have fled across the border from Colombia.

The latest fighting comes at tense time in relations between the two countries, just days after the inauguration to a third term of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who claimed victory in an election he is widely accused of stealing. Colombia has not recognized Maduro’s victory, but it also has not cut diplomatic relations with the country.

Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, the Andes director at the Washington Office on Latin America, said the latest violence could further threaten U.S. support for peace talks in Colombia.

It comes amid growing skepticism in Washington – even among Democrats – around Petro’s efforts to negotiate with armed groups. Trump’s new secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has been a particularly vocal critic of Petro and his policies.

The Trump administration could also home in on the ELN’s connection to Venezuela, where officials have been accused of allowing the group to operate freely. Venezuela has also been a guarantor in Petro’s negotiations with the group.

“The whole situation puts the Petro government in a very bad place,” Sánchez-Garzoli said.