The Colombian government announced on Friday that it had launched a military offensive on the border with Venezuela against the ELN guerrillas, engaged for a week in fighting which left at least 80 dead and 38,600 displaced.
“There has already been a first combat of the army against members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) (…) The order is to take the territory”Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez said from the border city of Cucuta.
More than 9,000 soldiers are deployed in the Catatumbo region, in northeastern Colombia, he said.
The first fights “took place yesterday (Thursday) afternoon southeast of El Tarra”declared for his part the head of the army Luis Emilio Cardozo.
The area has descended into violence since ELN guerrillas targeted dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a rival armed group, who did not sign the peace deal in 2016, as well as civilians.
Since January 16, tens of thousands of people have fled the fighting. According to the human rights ombudsman’s office, the current population displacements are the largest since 1997, when this data began to be collected.

A banner reading “We want peace” on a street in the municipality of Teorama, in the Catatumbo region, department of Norte de Santander, Colombia, January 23, 2025 / Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP
AFP journalists present in the region were able to observe the regime of terror imposed by the guerrillas to take control of this mountainous area, where security forces have not been able to access until now.
The ELN is trying to assert its control over part of this border region, which is home to drug trafficking routes and coca plantations, the main ingredient of cocaine, of which Colombia is the world’s leading producer.
The order is “to act with all our abilities to control (the guerrillas), so that this threat stops”said Mr. Velasquez.
Colombia is thus plunging back into one of the worst security crises in recent years, destroying the government’s hopes of disarming the ELN with which it had relaunched peace talks in 2022.
During the first week, military forces prioritized evacuating villagers from areas affected by the fighting by helicopter.
Due to this offensive, left-wing President Gustavo Petro suspended peace negotiations with the ELN and arrest warrants against around thirty ELN leaders were reactivated. According to military intelligence, “some of them” could be in Venezuela.
Cooperation from Colombia

Coca fields in Teorama, in the Catatumbo region, Norte de Santander department, Colombia, January 23, 2025 / Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP
The defense minister said he met his Venezuelan counterpart, Vladimir Padrino, in the Venezuelan city of San Cristóbal, on the border with Colombia.
“We are strengthening the essential relationships between military and police commanders (…)”said the minister, specifying that Venezuela was willing to collaborate.
Colombian intelligence services have long claimed that the ELN enjoys support and protection from Venezuela, with some of its leaders believed to live across the border.
Venezuela, for its part, accuses Colombia of providing ” shelter “ to the leaders of the Tren de Aragua, one of the largest Venezuelan gangs, with around 5,000 members, which operates throughout Latin America.
Areas of northern Santander have been transformed into huge camps for displaced people, where children and the elderly are flocking.
When he came to power in 2022, President Gustavo Petro pledged to end through dialogue the six-decade-old armed conflict in Colombia which has caused the deaths of 450,000 people.
He had since negotiated with several armed organizations in the country and had put in place a strategy of “Total peace” with a drastic reduction in military operations.
But the country has on the contrary seen an explosion of violence in several regions of the country which left more than 100 dead in one week.