More than 50.000 people forcibly displaced, at least 55 people assassinated; this is the result of the worst humanitarian crisis in Colombia since decades. The crisis broke out in January 2025, because of violent confrontations in the region Catatumbo, near the Venezuelan border, involving the guerilla organizations Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) and Frente 33, that emerged from the demobilization of the FARC-EP. The Colombian government responded by sending almost 10.000 soldiers and declaring a state of exception. The government under president Gustavo Petro took office in 2022 and pursued the Paz Total agenda (or Total Peace), that aims to negotiate peace agreements with all the major armed groups like the ELN and Frente 33.
In the eighth TraCe Policy Brief “Escalation of Violence amidst Colombia’s Struggle for Peace: Causes and Implications of Catatumbo’s Humanitarian Crisis,” authors Laura Camila Barrios Sabogal and Jonas Wolff trace back the development of the most established guerilla organizations in the last years and shed light on the specific characteristics of the region Catatumbo. The policy brief also depicts complex relations between the operating armed groups as well as their peace negotiations with the government.
The policy brief is available for download (PDF).
Laura Camila Barrios Sabogal is a doctoral researcher at PRIF in research department “Intrastate Conflict.” In her research, she focuses on the reintegration of former combatants and local peacebuilding processes in Colombia.
Jonas Wolff is professor for political science with a focus on Latin America at Goethe University Frankfurt and PRIF. At TraCe, he is Principal Investigator, Member of Directorate and Co-Speaker. He contributes to the research area Forms: 1.1 Findings on the Forms, Causes and Consequences of Political Violence.
Together with Santiago López Álvarez the authors already published a TraCe Policy Brief on Colombia’s peace process:
Barrios Sabogal, Laura Camila/López Álvarez, Santiago/Wolff, Jonas (2023): Reintegration through Local Interactions: The Colombian Peace Process from the Perspective of Rural Communities, TraCe Policy Brief No. 2, 08.11.2023, DOI: 10.48809/PRIFTraCePB2302.