“It was around 9:00 in the morning, we were working on the farm and suddenly we started to hear a lot of gunfire in the distance, but then we heard it closer. We ran to the house and my woman (wife) already had her suitcase ready. She and the children were very scared,” Carlos (fictitious name to protect his identity), a Venezuelan who migrated to Catatumbo region in Colombia more than seven years ago, told lapatilla.com team.
By Luz Dary Depablos / Correspondent lapatilla.com
“We have to go now. “This has gotten ugly,” said Carlos’s wife in fear.
“I came fleeing from Maduro and now I have to flee from the guerrillas, I don’t know what is worse,” said Carlos.
There was not much time to think. A few minutes were enough to coordinate with other neighbors in the area, and in this way join one of the first caravans made up of trucks and motorcycles to move into the city of Cúcuta, Colombia.
“We put up white cloths so we could leave,” in order to prevent any group in dispute from attacking them.
Announced war
Although Carlos had already been told about the armed conflict that had occurred years ago in this area of Colombia, he never imagined that it would be repeated and that he would also experience “the war so closely.”
In recent years, “normality” had returned to all the communities of Catatumbo, but the recent dispute between members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to take control of this territory has unofficially left more than 100 people dead.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 12,000 displaced people had already been registered in a census that is being carried out at the General Santander Stadium in the city of Cúcuta, where hundreds of displaced people continue to arrive in caravans, fleeing the war.
It should be noted that these victims of violence barely managed to collect their documents, as they did not have time for anything else.
They left behind their belongings, their jobs, their crops… and the vast majority even their pets, as they had to run without much weight to save their lives.
Thousands of families continue to pray to God for a ceasefire, as many of their loved ones have not yet managed to get out for fear of being caught in the crossfire, while others resist losing (abandoning) their property.
Emergency in Catatumbo
On the other hand, as a consequence of the humanitarian and public order situation in the Norte de Santander Department, the Governor, William Villamizar, through decrees 0042 and 0043 of January 20th, 2025, declared a “special public order situation” caused by a “social and economic emergency” throughout the Department of Norte de Santander and a manifest urgency in order to address the serious humanitarian situation generated by clashes between illegal armed groups in Catatumbo.
