"I don't feel safe in Colombia - the ELN and FARC are looking for me."

Against the backdrop of the confrontation between rebels from the Army of National Liberation (ELN) and the Frente 33 splinter group of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the Catatumbo region, the lives of community leaders and ex-FARC fighters who signed a peace agreement with the authorities in 2016 and voluntarily laid down their arms are at risk. "Izvestia" managed to speak to a 27-year-old human rights activist from Catatumbo, as well as a former FARC fighter, about the situation in the region - both of them were forced to leave their homes and hide in anonymity in other Colombian cities due to fear of death. On the threats of the ELN, the causes and preconditions of the conflict - in the exclusive material of "Izvestia".

"Son, the war between the ELN and FARChas begun ".

For a week and a half of the war for influence between the rebels from the Army of National Liberation (ELN) and the breakaway from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) structure Frente 33 in the north of Colombia more than 48 thousand people were forced to leave their homes, about 25 thousand were in a blockade because of crossfire, 41 people were killed and 12 are missing.

In the region of Catatumbo was declared a state of emergency for 90 days, and on January 27, speaking after a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Ocaña (like Catatumbo, is located in the department of North Santander), President Gustavo Petro said that the ELN uses paramilitary methods to occupy the territory and control the border of Colombia and Venezuela. The head of state also did not rule out that foreign forces could be behind the group.

The current situation poses a particular risk to opinion leaders and ex-FARC fighters, who in 2016 signed a peace agreement with the authorities and voluntarily laid down their arms. According to authorities in North Santander, of the 41 people killed, four were signatories to the peace agreement and two were opinion leaders.

Ex-FARC member Angel (name changed for security reasons) was one of those who signed the peace agreement in 2016. He told Izvestia how armed ELN fighters came to his father's house on the morning of January 16.

- If he had come out, they would have probably started shooting at him. But he was not at home, he had gone to work in the fields early that morning. At around 10 a.m. he called me and said: "Son, the war between the ELN and the FARC has started and they are killing the signatories of the peace agreement." He said he was fleeing the village because ELN collaborators had already come home four times, they were looking for me and my father to kill," he recounted.

According to Angel, the ELN acts in an extremely violent manner. It breaks into homes while everyone is asleep and immediately kills. One former FARC fighter was caught in his underwear and shot dead. Another was attacked while he was buying groceries at the store.

The ELN began killing peace agreement signatories for fear that they would join the resurgent FARC. The ELN understands that their opponents have combat experience and know the Catatumbo region well, but their main advantage is strategy and understanding of how to interact with the authorities.

- When we signed the peace agreement in 2016, we did not give up. We took this decision because we understood the country's situation and we realized that we would not be able to gain power. Therefore, we voluntarily laid down our arms to give the country a breath of air and allow people to move on with their lives in peace," Angel said.

At the same time, it is clear from his words that he hardly intended to join Frente 33. This group included those who did not fully agree with the final agreement with the authorities. In particular, they were not satisfied with the measures that the state promised to take to protect the environment. They needed funding to continue their activities, which they had been getting all along from drug trafficking.

As Angel explains, the preconditions for the conflict began in December 2024. At that time, ELN representatives openly stated that they did not agree with the fact that the FARC still had control over certain territories and that they received taxes from the population. They decided to wait until after the December holidays and the New Year to resume the war for territories, he said.

"The rebelsregularly pass by my house and look for me," he said

Miguel (name changed), a 27-year-old human rights defender from Catatumbo, had to leave his home. He left all his belongings behind and paused the work of the non-profit organization he headed. All this after he received a call from ELN on January 17.

- They offered to collaborate with me on the topic of delivering provisions, they wanted to use my organization for that purpose. In the zone where I come from, everyone knows that if the rebels offer you cooperation, it's a kind of tax to keep you going. All the unions, peasants, traders give the tax to the groups so that they don't touch their families and their property," he told Izvestia. - Everyone knows that if they refuse to pay this tax, what happened to me will happen to them. ELN declared me a military target, told me to close my organization and for my own good to leave my village.

According to the interviewee, many of his employees received threatening notes from the ELN, but they were not directed specifically at them. Rather, the group was trying to reach the leader to discuss the terms of cooperation with him. One way or another, he would not have been able to continue his activities as before. If Miguel had chosen to cooperate with the ELN, he would have become a FARC target. So now he seeks protection in another Colombian city, continuing to receive threatening messages.

- Being in Colombia, I don't feel safe - the ELN and FARC are looking for me, they have collaborators all over the country. People from the ELN write to me and threaten me. I get messages from people I know. They keep asking the same question, "Where are you and why aren't you answering messages?". They think I am still hiding in my village. My neighbors say the rebels regularly pass by my house looking for me," Miguel said.

According to him, many of those he knew joined the ELN because of fear:

- The ELN has its own strategy to lure as many people as possible, especially those with publicity, into their ranks. They actually call all people and offer cooperation, and declare anyone who doesn't want it to be a military target. Several opinion leaders have already been killed by them.

It is not only Miguel who has had to suspend his company. Locals tell us that most small firms in Catatumbo are now closed, and only those allowed by ELN members are open - so they can videotape it and publish it as proof that the region is supposedly calm.

"The government has not offered any resistance to the ELN."

However, while the ELN was not at war with either the Colombian armed forces or the FARC, the control it maintained over population centers in the Catatumbo region was generally liked by the local population. The period of peaceful coexistence lasted from the moment Gustavo Petro took power in 2022 and announced the start of peace talks with the ELN.

According to Izvestia's interlocutors, the people themselves asked the authorities to recall the military. At the same time, the government began to promote peaceful life in the region. In particular, the authorities ordered to build a university, houses of culture, and organize classes for young people in Katatumbo, thus offering people an alternative to illegal activities.

However, the ELN took over the function of police control - the organization had a system of rules and punishments for failure to comply with them. Thus, the group did not accept theft, drug addiction, violence against women and children, street fights and scandals.

Those who violated the rules were punished by being sent to work at the ELN's cottage. There they were forced to grow fruits and vegetables and look after livestock. Then the provisions had to be transported by truck to distribute to the poor. Recall that the ELN was originally conceived as an organization to promote the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, so this was generally part of its doctrine.

Locals noted that Katatumbo was peaceful: it was possible to use the telephone in the street without fear, to walk in the dark, and even to sleep with the door open. All these security guarantees were part of the ELN's social contract with the people of the region.

Now Colombia is returning to the period before the peace agreement with FARC, Izvestia's interlocutors note, and this instability will end when one of the groups gains the upper hand over the other.

- For years, the government has offered no resistance to the ELN, which gave it time to prepare, to study the region very well and to position itself in strategically important points," explains ex-FARC fighter Angel.

According to him, the armed forces now have all the necessary equipment to detect ELN leaders' locations from the air and strike their positions. Eventually this will force them to come to the negotiating table. In the meantime, it is particularly difficult to fight those who masquerade as civilians and walk the streets of cities with weapons.

- The ELN is not a group that wants to do something for the people, they want to do everything to make it convenient for them to traffic drugs," Angel says.

Neighboring Venezuela could be used to fight the ELN, because the border not only serves as a corridor for drug trafficking, but also helps members of the group to hide effectively in case of raids, he said.

However, with the declaration of a state of emergency in Catatumbo, the authorities are actively searching for ELN leaders. The Colombian armed forces recently announced a 3 billion peso (over $712,000) reward for information that could contribute to the capture of Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista (call sign "Gabino"), Eliecer Erlinto Chamorro (Antonio García), Gustavo Aníbal Giraldo Quincia (Pablito), and Israel Ramírez Pineda (Pablo Beltran).