A resurgence of guerrilla violence during Colombia's struggling peace process has killed over 80 people and displaced approximately 11,000 within four days, officials reported Sunday.
As residents fled, the army deployed roughly 5,000 troops to the cocaine-producing Catatumbo region, now at the center of a rapidly escalating territorial conflict.
The National Liberation Army (ELN) launched an assault in Catatumbo last Thursday on a rival group of ex-members of the now-defunct FARC guerrilla force, who continued fighting after disarming in 2017, officials said.
Civilians found themselves caught in the crossfire and by Sunday, “more than 80 people have lost their lives,” said William Villamizar, governor of the Norte de Santander department.
Terrified residents fled the region over the weekend, carrying backpacks and belongings on overcrowded motorcycles, boats, or open trucks.
Hundreds sought refuge in Tibu, where shelters were set up, while others crossed into Venezuela – for some, a return to a country they had fled due to economic and political upheaval.
Venezuela announced a "special operation to assist the civilian population displaced from Colombia," estimating hundreds of families had entered its territory.
“As a Colombian, it is painful for me to leave my country,” said Geovanny Valero, a 45-year-old farmer who fled to Venezuela. He hoped the Catatumbo conflict would be "sorted out" so he could return home.
“In just four days, at least 11,000 displaced people have been reported and there could be many more,” said Iris Marin, head of the Ombudsman's Office rights group, in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“There are indiscriminate attacks on combatants and civilians accused of collaborating with one group or the other,” she said.
Gov. Villamizar called on combatants to establish humanitarian corridors for civilians to escape safely.
The death toll in the mountainous region was 20 higher than the figure reported Saturday, which included seven ex-FARC combatants.
The Ombudsman's Office reported ELN rebels were “going house to house,” killing suspected FARC dissident collaborators.
It warned that “peace signatories, social leaders and their families and even children, face special risks of being kidnapped or killed.” Many had fled to the mountains.
Army commander Luis Emilio Cardozo said guerrillas had taken civilians from their homes and “killed them.”
He added that the army provided refuge on military bases and delivered food to conflict zones.
Officials said classes were suspended in the region, and schools were converted into shelters. Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez arrived in Cucuta, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Tibu, to oversee the military response.
The Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) disarmed under a 2016 peace deal after more than 50 years of war.
Still, the pact failed to end violence involving leftist guerrillas – including the ELN and FARC holdouts – as well as right-wing paramilitaries and drug cartels fighting over resources and trafficking routes.
In recent days, the ELN has also clashed with the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest drug cartel, leaving at least nine dead in another part of northern Colombia.
The violence prompted President Gustavo Petro to suspend negotiations with the ELN on Friday in his pursuit of “total peace.”
With about 5,800 combatants, the ELN remains one of Colombia’s most active armed groups. Though claiming to be driven by leftist, nationalist ideology, the group is heavily involved in the drug trade and has become one of the region’s most powerful organized crime organizations.
Talks with the ELN have failed under the last five Colombian governments. Negotiations broke down last year after the group launched a deadly attack on a military base.