Excmo. Sr. Presidente Gustavo Petro Urrego President of the Republic of Colombia contacto@presidencia.gov.co | Sra. Luz Adriana Camargo Attorney General of Colombia |
October 14, 2025
Dear President Petro and Attorney General Camargo:
We are writing to express our distress over the escalating situation in the Catatumbo region of northeast Colombia between the 33rd Front of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and local civil society organizations. A series of threats from this dissident faction of the demobilized FARC, including stigmatization of the important work being done by the Catatumbo Social Integration Committee (CISCA), seriously endangers the work of humanitarian organizations in the region.
The Colombia-Venezuela transborder region, located on the Colombia side mostly in the northeast department of Norte de Santander, extends between the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia and Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. Civil society in Catatumbo is made up mainly of peasant rights organizations and the Bari Indigenous people. Social leaders face extreme danger as they attempt to work in this region characterized by poverty, militarized violence, and conflicting factions. Armed violence between the 33rd Front and another rebel group, the ELN (National Liberation Army), has been going on in Catatumbo since at least January of this year. The violent conflict has resulted in dozens of civilian casualties, particularly impacting social leaders and the Bari Indigenous people (cf our letter 12 OCT 2024).
The 33rd Front is now raising claims that CISCA is working with other armed factions in the conflict. It is also accusing the presidents of two community action boards (of municipalities Tibú y El Tarra) of doing the same. This puts these social leaders under increased threats of violence. CISCA states that not only are the claims baseless and unjust, but they put CISCA’s members in an extremely vulnerable position.
We urge that authorities in Colombia:
(1) place human rights at the core of peace dialogues with the 33rd Front, calling on them to cease the slander against leaders of community action boards and CISCA
(2) consult with leaders of community action boards and CISCA to construct protection schemes to enable them to work without threats of violence
(3) support and implement structural solutions based on a stronger presence of civilian state institutions, such as the Social Pact for the Territorial Transformation of Catatumbo, that should include authorities of the Bari Indigenous people and leaders of local civil society organizations
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan-Szitttai, Co-Coordinator
copies:
Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo, Minister of Health and Social Protection ~ via email
Daniel García-Peña Jaramillo, Ambassador of Colombia to the US ~ via email
José Luis Caballero Ochoa, Rapporteur for Colombia , Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ~ via email
UN: Scott Campbell, Representative in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ~ via email
US Embassy: John McNamara (Chargé d’Affaires); Adam Levy (human rights) ~ via email
US State Department: Desk Officer for Colombia ~ via email
US Senators from Ohio: Husted and Moreno ~ via email
US Representatives from Ohio: Beatty, Brown, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Rulli, Sykes ~ via email
29 SEP 2025_CISCA_Colombia
