🗞️ Violence has erupted in Catatumbo, in north-eastern Colombia, after two guerrilla groups broke a truce last Wednesday. Tensions have been escalating since last year, but recent days have seen a spike in violence and an unprecedented impact on the civilian population.
At least 80 people have been killed and more than 11,000 displaced by the violence between the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) and the 33rd Front of the Estado Mayor Central (EMC) – a faction of the FARC dissidence led by alias Calarcá.
Iris Marín, Colombia’s human rights ombudsman, reported that ‘the ELN is directly attacking the civilian population.’
Many of the displaced are fleeing Catatumbo, department of Norte de Santander, to Venezuela in search of refuge.
Signatories to the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC have reportedly been declared military targets: five men have been taken from their homes in rural Catatumbo and killed by the ELN; local social leaders continue to be targeted.
President Gustavo Petro has now suspended peace talks with the ELN, citing war crimes and a lack of will towards peace - a decision which comes just days before talks were due to resume.
The president has now arrived in the town of Tibú with a security council, having declared a ‘state of emergency’ and ordered the arrival of 300 members of the special forces. Aerial medical evacuations by the military are now underway.
Catatumbo, a mountainous region of Norte de Santander on the border with Venezuela, is a key area for armed groups. The region is a centre of coca farming, accounting for as much as 12% of the national output, as well as a strategic corridor for the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and people in and out of Venezuela.
This upsurge in violence is reportedly an attempt by the ELN to consolidate control of this border area, as the group operates in both Venezuelan and Colombian territory. Some commentators say that political turmoil in Venezuela and consequent diplomatic tensions with Colombia have emboldened the ELN to resume operations.
🗞️ On Wednesday, a family of three was killed in Tibú: the father, Miguel Ángel López, ran a funeral parlour that collected the ELN’s victims to give them burial, as well as helping authorities identify bodies. His wife and ten-month-old baby were also killed. A son, aged ten years old, survived the attack.
It has been a violent start to the year in Colombia – this massacre brings the total number of massacres to five already this month, along with six social leaders and eight former FARC combatants assassinated.
🗞️ The debate about art, memory, and historical justice has been reignited in Medellín after the local government painted over a mural.
Last Tuesday, local activists and artists painted a mural depicting Las Mujeres Caminando por la Verdad, a women’s group which has campaigned for two decades in the city.
The group has insisted that there are up to 500 bodies buried in La Escombrera - a rubble pile near the Comuna 13 neighbourhood. Many of those suspected to be buried there are victims of forced disappearance and murder in the aftermath of Operation Orion, the largest urban military operation in Colombia’s history - in which the government allied with paramilitary groups to drive insurgents out of the neighbourhood.
For two decades, the women were ignored by government, leaving them vulnerable to threats and displacement by armed groups in Medellín. La Escombrera continued to be used as a tip for construction sites, piling tonnes of debris on top of those buried there.
The new mural depicted some of the women, along with the phrase ‘Las cuchas tienen razón’ - ‘The mothers are right’ - a reference to the discovery of several sets of human remains in the rubble last month.
The mural also depicted Álvaro Uribe, the president who ordered Operation Orion, accompanied by the words ‘Yo di la ordén’ - ‘I gave the order.’
One day later, Mayor Federico Gutiérrez (a member of Uribe’s political party and a close ally) ordered the mural covered up, and it was painted over in grey paint. The mayor said, "One thing is graffiti as an artistic expression... Another thing is disorder and those who simply want to generate chaos and make the city ugly and dirty."
Controversy ensued, including public clashes online between the mayor and the president - as well as various public figures.
Latterly, the mural was not only repainted, but has been replicated in cities across the country, including Bogotá, Neiva, and Cali. Posters have also appeared nationwide with the same slogan, and the women’s group now wear matching t-shirts which say ‘Siempre tuvimos razón’ - ‘We were right all along.’
The remains found at La Escombrera are awaiting identification, and excavation of the site continues.
🗞️ 11,000 Colombians filed for bankruptcy in 2024, a 58% increase compared to the previous year. The number of people defaulting on loans also increased last year.
Research suggests that the increase is driven by rising consumer debt and a higher cost of living, leading to higher monthly payments. Contributing to the issue is the fact that 55% of Colombians are informally employed, exacerbating financial insecurity, which particularly affects farmers and young people.
🗞️ On Saturday, 4,800 iguana eggs were seized by police in two separate incidents on motorways in the department of Magdalena.
The two perpetrators were travelling on buses, each caught during routine police inspections of the vehicles with thousands of eggs packed into bags.
Obtaining this many eggs will have involved the death of around 400 female iguanas, according to police, as hunters cut the animals open to remove the eggs. Fewer than 10% of iguanas survive these attacks, and none can reproduce afterwards.
This seizure is part of a concerted effort to combat illegal trafficking. The extraction and trade of iguana eggs threatens not only the species but the entire ecosystem, as iguanas are crucial to seed dispersal and the fertility of soil. The eggs are generally sold for food, though they are common carriers of salmonella.
Trafficking and sale of iguana eggs can lead to prison sentences of up to eleven years.
🗞️ As Donald Trump is inaugurated for his second term as President of the United States of America, Petro has named a his long-term righthand, Laura Sarabia, as new Foreign Minister.
Sarabia is currently Director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency (Dapre), and is to take the role of overseeing Colombia’s diplomatic relations at this key moment for international relations. Outgoing foreign minister, Luis Gilberto Murillo is rumoured to be preparing his launch as a presidential candidate for 2026.
Sarabia has a political outlook similar to Murillo’s and it is expected that relations with the US will be prioritised over relations with emerging economies. Government sources told local media that one of Sarabia’s first objectives is to arrange a meeting between Petro and Trump.
However, with the exception of Argentina's President Javier Milei who attended the inauguration, Latin America’s presidents have opted for protocol messages or - as has been the case for Petro - total silence in response to the launch of Trump’s new term.
Meanwhile, Panama immediately rejected Trump’s claims, reiterated today in his inauguration speech, that America gave the Panama Canal to Panama, that Panama has broken promises, and that America is ‘going to take it back.’
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino immediately announced that ‘the Canal is and will remain Panama's and its management will remain under Panamanian control with respect for its permanent neutrality.’
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