BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — More than 300 people have fled Colombia’s volatile Catatumbo region to escape fighting by rebel groups, and have now sought shelter in Cúcuta, a city near the border with Venezuela that was already bracing for a possible influx of refugees.
In a message posted on X Monday night, Colombia’s Human Rights Ombudswoman Iris Marín said that the displaced people come from Tibu and El Tarra, two municipalities where fighting between rebel groups broke out in December.
Colombia’s government deployed tanks and troops to Cúcuta on Saturday, after the U.S. raid on neighboring Venezuela that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
Drug traffickers and rebel groups have for years fought for control of the Catatumbo region, one of Colombia’s main coca-producing areas.
“Once again we call on rebel groups to cease combat and leave the civilian population out of the conflict,” Marín wrote.
Last year, more than 56,000 people were displaced from Catatumbo, a large region that straddles the border with Venezuela, and at least 80 were killed, as the National Liberation Army waged an offensive against a rival group known as the FARC-EMC.
The humanitarian crisis prompted Colombia’s government to suspend peace talks with the National Liberation Army that began in 2022.
Colombian officials have said the country is preparing for a potential wave of Venezuelan refugees, though that has not materialized so far, as the situation in Venezuela appears to have stabilized, with Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez now sworn in as interim leader.
On Tuesday, Gloria Arriero, the director of Colombia’s National Immigration Service, said that foot traffic along the border has not changed significantly since the attack on Venezuela, with approximately 60,000 people entering Cúcuta and leaving the city each day.
“We feel calm, because the flow of people has not increased,” Arriero said at a news conference.
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