Alert over threats to former guerrillas at Tierra Grata in northern Colombia - justice for colombia

José Manuel Alba, a university professor from Catatumbo, the Colombian region bordering Venezuela where the war between armed groups has been unleashed again because of the domination of the largest enclave of coca crops, describes the drama that drags the conflict: “It is taking away until the capacity to think of a tomorrow.” Violence, which has intensified in 12 areas of the country, not only leaves murders, displacements and confinements, mo…

Alert over threats to former guerrillas at Tierra Grata in northern Colombia - justice for colombia

A recent surge in conflict violence in the Catatumbo region of northeast Colombia is threatening to spill over into surrounding departments, with the risk to former FARC members in the peace process considerably higher since the start of the year. On 10 March, the National Ombudsman’s Office issued an alert over a possible dangerous situation around the formal transitional zone Tierra Grata, one of 24 such spaces created in the 2016 peace agreem…

In this region of the north-eastern part of the country, the war between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the dissident groups revived the violence and forced thousands of inhabitants into exile. The Colombian newspaper "Cambio" went to meet the population of La Cecilia, a village in the Catatumbo hard hit by the clashes.

The new defense minister of Colombia, Pedro Sánchez, said in an interview with the AFP that he will respond with “all the force” to the threats of the ELN guerrillas to engage in a “total war,” although he recognizes a weakening of the public force despite the strengthening of the crime. Recently invested in office on March 3, the retired general of the Air Force became the first military to assume the head of this portfolio since the 1991 Const…