This photo provided by COLPRENSA on Jan 22 2025 shows emergency workers and displaced people at the General Santan

The mountains of Catatumbo in eastern Colombia are so dangerous that the police and army generally don’t stray far from their barracks for fear of snipers.

The governor of the Colombian department of Norte de Santander, William Villamizar, declared “a social and economic emergency” in that region in the northeast of the country due to the humanitarian crisis caused by clashes between ELN guerrillas and FARC dissidents in the Catatumbo area (northeast).

More than 8,000 civilians fled the violence, with many seeking shelter in government facilities or hiding in the mountains.

More than 80 people have been killed in the country’s northeast region following failed attempts to hold peace talks with the National Liberation Army, a Colombian

More than 80 people were killed in the country’s northeast over the weekend following the government’s failed attempts to hold peace talks with the National Liberation Army, a Colombian official said.

Displaced Colombians gathered at shelters to receive aid in the border city of Cúcuta on Jan. 20, after dozens were killed and more than 11,000 displaced in ongoing clashes between armed groups.

At least 80 people are dead and more than 18,000 have been forced to flee their homes in Colombia, officials say, amid fierce clashes between two rival armed groups on the border with Venezuela.

Terrified residents carrying backpacks and belongings on overladen motorcycles, boats, or crammed onto the backs of open trucks, fled the region over the weekend.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian president Gustavo Petro warned on Monday that his nation’s military will take offensive actions against the National Liberation Army after the rebels, known as the ELN, unleashed a wave of attacks in the country's northeast that left dozens of people killed and forced thousands to flee their homes.

Colombian president Gustavo Petro says he will declare a state of emergency, following a spate of guerrilla attacks in the country's northeast that has killed dozens of people and forced

At least 80 people are dead and more than 11,000 have been forced to flee their homes in Colombia, officials say, amid fierce clashes between two rival armed groups on the border with Venezuela.