Colombian President Gustavo Petro could declare a state of internal disturbance – effectively a state of siege under the 1991 Constitution – due to escalating violence in the Catatumbo region of Norte de Santander. The National Liberation Army (ELN) and FARC dissidents are waging a brutal war over narcotrafficking routes and control of more than 50,000 hectares of coca, creating a humanitarian disaster of unprecedented scale.
According to Colombia’s Defensoría del Pueblo, the violence in recent days has already displaced over 11,000 people, with 4,000 fleeing to Cúcuta, the departmental capital. Authorities are working to assist displaced families while verifying reports of 39 additional bodies in remote villages along a corridor linking the Magdalena Medio region to the Venezuelan border. The death toll has now reached 100, with 60 fatalities reported this week alone.
A recent incident underscores the human tragedy of the ELN-FARC war. Miguel Ángel López, a funeral director in Tibú, was murdered alongside his wife and their eight-month-old baby, reportedly for defying armed groups’ orders to leave certain bodies untouched. Only his ten-year-old son survived, adding to the growing number of orphans in the region. López was a well-known and respected figure in his community, and his killing highlights the guerrilla’s systematic assassinations of community leaders, social activists, and signatories of the 2016 peace accord with ex-FARC.
This weekend, thousands of displaced residents sought safety while local authorities, humanitarian organizations, and the Colombian Army coordinated emergency relief efforts. The Armed Forces has deployed 400 additional troops to the Catatumbo region to quell the violence, as well as Special Forces to Cúcuta, near the Venezuela border. Schools, businesses, and public services have been paralyzed in many of the department’s municipalities, with entire neighborhoods left deserted as residents flee violence.
The internal conflict will be addressed on Wednesday during a United Nations Security Council session, where Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo plans to denounce the ELN-FARC dissident confrontation formally. The council is also set to review the latest quarterly report from the UN Verification Mission on Colombia’s peace process. The potential of violence was denounced four months ago by the Defensoría del Pueblo and even acknowledged by the 33rd Front of the Estado Mayor Central, a FARC dissident faction.
In 2024, Norte de Santander recorded 516 homicides, concentrated in Catatumbo and Cúcuta. Despite repeated warnings from human rights advocates about the region’s deteriorating security, the scale and intensity of the current crisis have shocked Colombia. The savagery of the violence has impacted many farming communities where the ELN has killed and mutilated animals.
As thousands are forced to abandon the territory, and ELN declares new war fronts, Petro faces his biggest internal challenge since taking office as the country’s first leftist leader in August 2022. Should Petro declare a state of internal commotion, he would become the first President to do so in over fifteen years and decision that sends a damning message to the international community regarding the state of security in Colombia.
