Catatumbo: Caught Between Violence and the Name for Peace
Camila Castellanos*
Colombia’s Catatumbo area has been engulfed in a deepening humanitarian disaster for the previous three weeks. Greater than 50,000 people have been forcibly displaced, over 80 individuals have been killed, and six signatories of the 2016 Peace Settlement have been assassinated. The Colombian authorities has responded by suspending peace dialogues with the ELN guerrilla group, declaring a state of internal commotion, and launching a military offensive. As soon as once more, Catatumbo is on the coronary heart of a violent battle that threatens the delicate beneficial properties of Colombia’s peace course of.
A Area Formed by Resilience
Catatumbo, which means “Home of Thunder” within the language of the Indigenous Barí folks, is a area of placing pure magnificence and immense cultural significance. It’s dwelling to the Barí folks, whose presence within the space dates again centuries, and generations of peasant communities have lived off the land by means of farming, fishing, looking, and elevating animals. Over time, the area has additionally seen waves of settlement, colonization, and social movements. Nonetheless, regardless of its wealthy historical past and powerful communal ties, Catatumbo has been overshadowed by cycles of violence and authorities neglect, leaving its folks to navigate the challenges of battle and resilience on their very own. But, within the face of precariousness and marginalization—contrasting sharply with the area’s pure abundance—its inhabitants have responded with collective power. An unlimited community of group organizations has emerged, working tirelessly to demand recognition, defend their rights, and construct initiatives that enable them to reside with dignity.
Within the early twentieth century, the enlargement of the oil trade, backed by the Colombian Authorities, pressured Indigenous Barí communities from their ancestral lands. By the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties, guerrilla teams just like the ELN (Nationwide Liberation Military), EPL (Standard Liberation Military), and the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – Folks’s Military) established strongholds within the area, filling the vacuum left by a largely absent state. These teams exerted political, army, and financial management over native populations. As a consequence, within the Nineteen Nineties,a brand new wave of violence ushered within the arrival of paramilitary forces, which, amongst different goals, sought to remove the presence of guerrilla teams.
The 2016 Peace Settlement: Progress and Setbacks
The 2016 Peace Agreement between the Colombian authorities and the FARC-EP guerrilla was a historic step towards ending a long time of armed battle. It targeted on 5 key areas: rural reform, political participation, ending the battle, addressing illicit medicine, and the Complete System for Reality, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Repetition. This technique goals to uphold victims’ rights, guarantee accountability, present authorized safety for contributors, and promote coexistence, reconciliation, and lasting peace.
Regardless of its challenges, the Peace Settlement has achieved notable progress. In accordance with the United Nations, the overwhelming majority of former combatants stay invested of their reintegration course of and dedicated to peace regardless of the numerous challenges encountered alongside the way in which. UN Secretary-Normal António Guterres has lately reaffirmed worldwide support for the peace course of, particularly highlighting the safety challenges and the continuing peace negotiations with different armed teams.
Nonetheless, the FARC’s withdrawal from areas like Catatumbo created a power vacuum quickly crammed by different armed teams, together with the ELN and the EMBF (Normal Employees of Blocks and Entrance, a dissident group of the FARC-EP). This shift reignited territorial disputes because the area stays a battleground for management over mining, coca manufacturing, and illicit trafficking by means of Venezuela, leaving civilians caught within the crossfire.
On January 16, 2025, tensions between the ELN and the EMBF erupted into open violence. In accordance with Diego Tovar, a Peace Settlement signatory, “That is the best humanitarian disaster we have now confronted in Colombia since we signed the settlement.”
The UN Verification Mission confirmed that the casualties included former combatants who signed the 2016 Peace Settlement, in addition to human rights defenders and social leaders. In response, UN Secretary-Normal António Guterres strongly condemned the violence and known as for its fast finish.
The disaster in Catatumbo uncovered significant shortcomings within the territorial implementation of the 2016 Peace Settlement, significantly in rural growth, land possession, and protections for weak communities. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, head of the UN Verification Mission, noted that Catatumbo, like many different areas in Colombia, continues to be ready to implement the 2016 Peace Settlement, particularly concerning entry to public providers, authorized and financial alternatives, growth, and safety. He careworn that complete implementation of the accord is essential for reaching lasting peace.
Authorities Response
As violence escalated, President Gustavo Petro introduced the suspension of peace dialogues with the ELN and declared a state of internal commotion, granting his administration emergency powers. The federal government launched a joint military campaign with Venezuela geared toward combating the ELN and prison teams working alongside the border.
Whereas the federal government argues that army motion is critical to revive safety, many concern that elevated militarization will solely deepen the humanitarian disaster. Traditionally, army interventions in Catatumbo have did not ship lasting peace, usually exacerbating displacement and instability. Social organizations and local leaders warn that with out addressing the foundation causes of violence—poverty, lack of state presence, and unlawful economies—army options will stay ineffective.
Voices from Civil Society: A Demand for Different Options
Native communities and social organizations are concerned concerning the authorities’s militarized response. As an alternative, they’re calling for respect for all times and the non-involvement of civilians within the battle, urging the federal government to renew peace dialogues with the ELN and preserve ongoing negotiations with the EMBF. Additionally they demand the fast signing of Catatumbo’s Pact to make sure social funding and tackle historic money owed owed to native communities.
Moreover, they emphasize the necessity for pressing humanitarian support and the assure of a protected return for displaced households. A key concern is the safety of the best to training, contemplating the massive variety of youngsters who’ve been displaced by violence, thereby violating their entry to education. Notably, grassroots organizations have expressed alarm over the federal government’s choice to declare a state of inner commotion, which has traditionally led to elevated militarization and, in flip, worsened the humanitarian disaster.
Let These Voices Be Louder Than the Sounds of Violence
Peace in Catatumbo begins with listening to the voices of its folks, to the calls for of its communities, and to the options they’ve tirelessly constructed. True change will come not by means of the cycle of violence that has drenched the area and the nation in blood however by means of the help and implementation of grassroots initiatives. Over the previous two years, organized communities in Catatumbo haven’t solely developed a roadmap for transformation however have stood firmly by their proposals, demanding action.
On January 22, wearing white and holding banners that cried out with messages for peace—“Peace can solely be achieved by means of dialogue and understanding”—the folks crammed the streets, demanding an finish to the violence that has shadowed their lives for much too lengthy.
Their voices can not and should not be ignored. Armed teams should return to the negotiating desk, recognizing that real dialogue makes an enduring future attainable. As Carlos Ruiz Massieu, head of the UN Verification Mission, has emphasised, these efforts should be grounded in an unwavering dedication to Worldwide Humanitarian Regulation. On the identical time, peace can not stand alone—it should be bolstered by sturdy safety methods prioritizing prevention, safety, and the dignity of each group.
Violence can not extinguish the voices of a individuals who, for over eight years, have risked every thing in pursuit of peace. As grassroots organizations chant of their mobilizations:
”From the territories to the cities, united, we stand.
We’re the resistance. We’re peace in Catatumbo.”
Camila Castellanos is an LLM’25 candidate at Harvard Regulation Faculty and a Analysis Assistant for the HLS Program on Worldwide Regulation and Armed Battle (HLS PILAC). She leads a challenge on accountability for human rights violations in Sudan with the Harvard Regulation Faculty Advocates for Human Rights and serves as an Article Managing Editor for the Harvard Human Rights Journal and an Government Managing Editor for the Harvard Journal of Regulation & Gender.
Views expressed on Harvard Human Rights Reflections are these of the person authors and don’t essentially mirror the opinions or positions of the Human Rights Program or Harvard Regulation Faculty.
