Gladis Angarita, like hundreds of other people, fled his village since the bloody attack by the Colombian ELN guerrillas in the Catatumbo region, to find refuge in Tibú. “We want peace, they want to end this war”she begs.
Sitting on a tree trunk, Gladis, 62, pauses to take her asthma medication, before adding: “we are suffering (…), we have nothing to do with this war. My god, let them realize this”.
Since Thursday, the ELN attack against civilians and dissidents from the defunct FARC guerrillas has left at least 60 dead in this border area of Venezuela, recalling the worst hours of the armed conflict in Colombia.
Residents who fled the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla attack on civilians find refuge in Tibú, northern Colombia, January 18, 2025 / Schneyder Mendoza / AFP
Gladis fled her village on Friday, terrified, “because there was shooting all the time”. “We left everything because we were afraid”she says, saying she didn’t even take anything to sleep with.
She has since been installed, with 500 other people, in a reception center in Tibú, a town of around 60,000 inhabitants which is, according to the UN, the locality with the most drug plantations in the world. In total, more than 2,500 people have found refuge in the city, according to its mayor, Richar Claro.
“So many innocent people”
In the Tibú road terminal, there is an incessant ballet of people wanting to take a bus to flee to other regions of Colombia or even to Venezuela.
“There are so many innocent people paying for this war and experiencing things that we don’t have to experience”said, with sobs in her voice, Carmelina Pérez, also 62 years old.
Residents who fled the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla attack on civilians find refuge in Tibú, northern Colombia, January 18, 2025 / Schneyder Mendoza / AFP
“My daughters stayed at home because they didn’t want to leave. I came with the children and with my husband who is also elderly”she adds, before heading towards Cúcuta, a border town with Venezuela.
In the Tibú reception center, hammocks hang from trees and football goals, children run in all directions. Women prepare sancocho, a typical Colombian soup with tubers and vegetables, over a wood fire.
“Harder than in Venezuela”
This conflict “is horrible”breathes Luis Alberto Urrutia, who fled the crisis in his native Venezuela seven years ago to settle in the Catatumbo mountains, where he earns his living by collecting coca leaves.
“It’s harder than in Venezuela because of the conflict”adds this 39-year-old man, who is now afraid for his life and that of his family. “Perhaps it is better that we return to Venezuela” car “there is danger everywhere (…) many deaths”.
A soldier stands guard near people who fled the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla attack on civilians and found refuge in Tibú, northern Colombia, January 18, 2025 / Schneyder Mendoza / AFP
The ELN assault broke a truce with FARC dissidents and challenged the left-wing government of Gustavo Petro, which came to power with a pledge to seek a negotiated solution to six decades of armed conflict, and which announced on Friday that it was suspending peace negotiations with the ELN.
Until then, the two rebel organizations were engaged in parallel peace negotiations with the government.
Gustavo Petro began talks with the ELN in late 2022, when he became Colombia’s first left-wing president. But the peace process is in constant crisis due to rebel attacks, disputes with other armed groups and differences between the different parties that have prevented the conclusion of concrete agreements.
