Residents of a conflict-ridden province in northern Colombian city are bracing for more violence as clashes between rival armed groups spread to a regional capital—violence not seen since the cartel turmoil of the 1990s.
In response, the mayor of Cúcuta imposed a 48-hour curfew on the city’s one million residents in an effort to regain control. Fighters from the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia’s largest armed group, launched attacks on police stations with rifles and grenades and used car bombs to destroy toll booths.
The surge in violence is another setback for President Gustavo Petro’s struggling efforts to negotiate peace with armed groups. Humanitarian organization Project Hope reports that 122,000 people in northern Colombia now require urgent aid.
“It’s very tense. The police and military are stationed on every corner, and people are panicking, wondering where the next attack will be,” said Beatriz Carvajal, a 50-year-old teacher from the regional capital. She noted that businesses and schools were closed, and the streets were eerily empty. “I’m in a group with other teachers, and none of us can recall anything like this since the 1990s, when Pablo Escobar bombed whatever he wanted.”
The violence began in the Catatumbo region in mid-January when the ELN clashed with dissident factions of the now-disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), leaving 80 dead and displacing 50,000. In response, Petro declared a state of emergency and suspended fragile peace talks with the rebels.
Conflict also erupted in the Amazon rainforest, where 20 people were killed, while thousands in the Chocó region along the Pacific coast were placed under strict lockdown by the ELN this week.
The simultaneous unrest across rural and urban areas has heightened fears that the government is losing control—more people have been displaced this year than in all of 2024.
“We cannot allow these terrorist actions to hold Cúcuta hostage,” said the city’s mayor, Jorge Acevedo. “Our priority is protecting the people and restoring order.”
Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement with Farc formally ended six decades of war that claimed 450,000 lives and displaced millions. However, new armed groups have since emerged to fill the power vacuum, and Petro’s attempts to negotiate peace with major factions have made little progress.
The number of armed groups has risen from 141 in 2022 to 184 in 2024, according to Colombia’s rights ombudsman.
Cúcuta’s location along the lawless Venezuelan border has made it a hotspot for illicit activity, with around 25 groups vying for control of cocaine trafficking, smuggling, and other criminal enterprises.
The worsening violence has triggered a humanitarian crisis, with severe shortages of water and healthcare, while conditions in refugee camps have led to outbreaks of parasitic infections.
“Violence has been relentless, and the humanitarian crisis has reached catastrophic levels,” said Mónica Hoyos, Project Hope’s program director in Colombia. “Hospitals are on the verge of collapse, facing critical shortages.”
