IRTF News

In November 2016, historic peace accords were signed between the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the government. But several factions (called "dissidents") broke off from the FARC and refused to lay down their weapons. One of those dissident groups, the 33rd Front, is operating in the transborder Catatumbo region of northeast Colombia, whose inhabitants are mainly campesino 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.  

The 33rd Front is raising claims that the humanitarian organization Catatumbo Social Integration Committee (CISCA) is working with other armed factions in the conflict. This puts members of CISCA 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 the government 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.

In response to an alert from the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, we wrote to officials in Colombia with deep concern for the safety of residents in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Department. Over the past month the intensification of armed conflicts has resulted in selective assassinations, forced disappearances, internal displacements and social control that imposes fear, extortion and invisible barriers. Young people are limited in their mobility to go to school because the city is fragmented by invisible barriers that prevent free movement. Illegal armed groups are occupying people’s homes and pressuring teenagers to carry weapons, carry out surveillance activities, and participate in illegal economies.  Girls are being seduced and deceived for sexual exploitation. At least ten neighborhoods have recorded killings of their residents during September.

The Bari Indigenous people live in the Perijá mountains near the Catatumbo-Bari National Natural Park in Norte de Santander Department in northeast Colombia. The binational people live on both sides of the Colombia-Venezuela border.  Stretching between the Eastern Andes and Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, the Catatumbo region is rich in natural resources, particularly oil, but marked by extreme poverty, high militarization, armed violence, and the lack of access to health, food, education, water, and housing. These conditions have created a hostile environment for social leadership and human rights defense. The region also lacks infrastructure and connectivity with the rest of Colombia.

Since late August, dozens of people have been suffering from fever, pain, and hemorrhages; on August 26, a child died after presenting these symptoms. Residing far from municipal urban centers where health facilities exist, the Bari people are forced to travel long distances to seek medical attention. Without the resources for transport and lodging, these journeys further endanger their health. We are urging that authorities in Colombia consult with Bari settlements to establish adequately equipped medical facilities, so they do not have to risk their lives traveling for hours to access healthcare.

The 2016 Peace Accords were historic. Thousands of armed combatants with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were demobilized and enrolled in reincorporation centers (Territorial Training and Reincorporation Spaces) across the country.

But the violence by illegal armed organizations against the ex-combatants has been astronomical. As of late September, at least 480 ex-combatant signatories of the peace agreement have been killed, as verified by the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia. This deadly violence threatens the reintegration process for all former combatants.

In recent months, six Peace Accords signatories have been murdered in Antioquia Department alone. John Fader Santiago Galvis, 32 years-old, was an ex-combatant who had been carrying out his reincorporation process in Cocorná, Antioquia, since 2024. On September 2, he was found dead by local residents on the banks of the Cocorná River near San Antonio. On his body were multiple bullet wounds and serious burns on his skin, suggesting an attempt at cremation.

We urge that authorities in Colombia promptly enact strict governmental measures to remove armed groups from innocent and vulnerable communities in Antioquia and provide adequate protection to social leaders who are under threat, in strict accordance with their wishes.