Special report
Security in Catatumbo and Cúcuta
Catatumbo is the ELN's stronghold and Colombia's second-biggest coca region. This is who holds power there, what the war has done to the people who live there, and what the government is doing about it.
Where: Catatumbo, in Norte de Santander on the Venezuela border: Tibú, El Tarra, Sardinata and the towns down to Ocaña. Cúcuta is the gateway city. The new task force against the ELN also covers southern Cesar.
1Why Catatumbo
Catatumbo is the ELN's home ground. On January 16, 2025, the ELN launched a war on Front 33 for control of the region. In its first year, that war forced 101,587 people from their homes, and the Ombudsman's office called the consequences "unprecedented" in their scale. Tibú grows more coca than any town in Colombia except Tumaco: 25,911 hectares in 2024.
What it meansThe fight is over the coca and the border with Venezuela.
2Who has the guns
Military intelligence counts 7,204 ELN members nationwide: 3,542 armed fighters, and the rest in support networks. Its Northeastern War Front, based in Norte de Santander and along the border, has 2,320 members. Its biggest unit there, the Camilo Torres Restrepo front, has about 400 fighters. Front 33 has about 500. One of its leaders, alias "El Mocho Olmedo," was captured, and in August the president signed his extradition to the United States.
What it meansThe ELN is stronger than Front 33, and big enough to fight the army at the same time.
3The war on soldiers and police
By mid-September, the ELN had carried out 119 drone attacks this year. On September 4, ELN drones hit the army base in Ocaña, killing three soldiers and wounding four. The ELN hit the police station in Guamalito, in El Carmen, that day and again on September 7, until the building couldn't be used and the 21 officers there had to be flown out. On October 4, police and the army found an ELN depot near Sardinata with about a ton of explosives and 100 homemade grenades built for drones.
What it meansThe ELN isn't avoiding the army. It's attacking it, and it's stockpiling explosives to keep doing it.
4The roads
In February, a truck loaded with explosives hit an army battalion and cut power to 26,000 customers, and the ELN's Carlos Armando Cacua Guerrero front planted explosives on the Ocaña-Cúcuta highway, forcing a partial closure. In May, the ELN set up a roadblock in rural Tibú, stopping vehicles and demanding passengers' ID. Public transport from Cúcuta to the Catatumbo towns has lost 80% of its passengers.
What it means for usCúcuta is the main way into Venezuela, and the way into Catatumbo. Past Tibú, toward La Gabarra and El Tarra, the roads run through the war. A local driver: "We can't even travel anymore, because of what's going on from Tibú on down, in La Gabarra and El Tarra."
5Still forcing people out
By June, the Ombudsman's office had counted 13 mass displacements in Catatumbo this year, with at least 2,447 people forced out, mostly from Tibú and El Tarra. In June alone, 784 people fled villages in El Tarra. Norte de Santander is second only to Cauca in children forced into armed groups this year: 25 from January to August.
What it meansFewer people are fleeing than in 2025, but whole villages still empty out when the fighting comes.
6The government's answer
Petro's government declared a state of internal commotion in 2025 and proposed a holding zone for Front 33. The zone was never set up. In September, the new government removed its negotiators for the ELN talks. On October 5, the president activated Task Force Urano: about 1,200 troops and 160 police, based in Aguachica, Cesar, aimed at the ELN's leaders and its money, including fuel stolen from the pipeline. The police station in Aguachica had just been hit by drones for the second time in 10 days.
What it meansThe government is going after the ELN's money, not just its fighters.
The scorecard
First year of the ELN-Front 33 war, to December 7, 2025: 101,587 people displaced, 7,777 threatened, 3,772 confined. Deaths in the first 12 months: 166, including 10 minors, plus 19 members of the security forces. This year: 2,447 displaced by June, and 119 ELN drone attacks by mid-September.
What it meansThe war is smaller than in 2025, but it isn't over.
These groups use any space they're given to reset and grow. They need to be crushed, not contained.