Colombia faces security crisis as armed clashes kill dozens, displace thousands

Colombia is sliding into a security crisis that has forced President Gustavo Petro to abandon his initial strategy of negotiated peace and consider declaring a state of emergency. The violence erupted across multiple regions in recent days, with the most intense fighting concentrated in the Catatumbo region along the northeastern border, where eighty people have been killed and eleven thousand displaced. Many of those fleeing have crossed into Venezuela—a reversal of the migration patterns that have defined the region for years, as Colombians now seek refuge in a country most of their compatriots have been leaving.

Petro's government is studying the possibility of declaring a state of internal commotion, a constitutional measure that would grant the president exceptional powers for up to ninety days, renewable twice. The move would represent a dramatic shift from the approach Petro pursued when he took office, when he invited armed groups to negotiate ceasefires and pursue peace processes. That strategy has failed. None of the major armed groups has shown willingness to lay down weapons. Now, facing a security situation that has spiraled beyond state control, Petro is attempting to reposition himself as commander in chief of the armed forces, projecting strength where diplomacy has not worked.

On social media, Petro declared war on the National Liberation Army, the ELN, one of the principal actors in the Catatumbo fighting. "The ELN has chosen the path of war and war it will have," he wrote, adding that the constitutional army must save and protect the Catatumbo population from what he called the ELN's murders. In another post, Petro characterized the violence as evidence that insurgent guerrillas have transformed into narco-armed organizations driven by greed rather than ideology. He reflected on the ELN's founding principles, rooted in what he described as the "effective love" philosophy of founder Camilo Torres, and concluded: "That ELN is dead."

But the crisis extends far beyond Catatumbo. In the southeastern department of Guaviare, hundreds of kilometers away, rival factions of FARC dissidents have clashed in the rural area of Miravalle, leaving at least twenty people dead. The Ombudsman's Office documented fighting between the Amazonas Bloc, commanded by a figure known as Iván Mordisco, and the Jhon Linares structure, part of the Jorge Suárez Briceño bloc under the command of Calarcá. The exact death toll remains unclear; local authorities acknowledge that armed groups may have removed bodies from the scene.

Guaviare's mayor, Farid Camilo Castaño, described the situation as terrifying. He told a national news outlet that the department lacks even the basic forensic capacity to handle the bodies being recovered, forcing authorities to request assistance from the neighboring Meta department. A police station was bombed by drones weeks earlier. The two military battalions operating in the region cannot adequately cover nearly forty rural settlements. Castaño pleaded for national attention, noting that Guaviare's crisis mirrors violence unfolding in other departments like Santander.

The strategic complexity facing the government is severe. Guaviare sits atop illegal coca crops, illegal gold and coltan mining, and serves as a gateway to the Amazon with devastating deforestation consequences. It is also a transit point for trafficking toward Brazil and the Pacific. Humberto de la Calle, the former chief negotiator of the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, called Guaviare as strategically important as Catatumbo. But the government faces an impossible tactical situation: one FARC dissident faction is actively fighting the state, while another maintains an active ceasefire agreement with the government. De la Calle posed the dilemma publicly: when two armed groups clash and one is in ceasefire with the state, how should the government proceed? Should it ally with one against the other, serve only as a humanitarian arbiter, or fight both?

Defense Minister Iván Velásquez has not yet articulated a clear response. The government's next moves—whether to declare the state of emergency, how to navigate the ceasefire complications, and whether military force alone can restore control—will determine whether this crisis deepens or stabilizes. For now, Colombians continue fleeing combat zones, and the state's monopoly on violence in these regions remains contested.