Petro launches peace plan on the border with Venezuela; project includes land titration and farmers’ payment

Negotiations with the guerrillas have been suspended since episodes involving armed groups operating in the Catatumbo region

Colombia President Gustavo Petro announced on Monday (3) a plan of “social and economic transformation” in the region of Catatumbo, located on the border with Venezuela, where the National Liberation Army Guerrilla (ELN) is active. One of the campaign promises of the current Colombian president was to end the armed conflict in the country, which has lasted more than five decades.

The new regional plan arises in the midst of a state of “internal agitation” that has been in force since January in the region and foresees an investment of 2.7 billion pesos, equivalent to R $ 3.9 billion, to eradicate about 25 thousand hectares of coca leaf plantations.

“If peace consists of turning an excluded territory, catatumbo (…) is immersed in one of the largest regions of coca cultivation,” Petro said at a television -shown cabinet meeting. He pointed out that there are more than 50 thousand hectares planted in that region, half of which are in the municipality of Tibú, in the department of northern Santander, said the president.

The president explained that the project is linked to other measures in force in the region. The plan also provides for “voluntary eradication of coca plantations”, land titration, replacement projects, marketing agricultural products and a highway with connections with the rest of the country, according to the announcement. The benefit amount is 1,280 Colombian pesos, the equivalent of R $ 1,810 per month, during the period of one year.

Peace negotiations

Permanent dialogue with armed groups is one of the policies implemented by Petro since the beginning of his term in 2022. The president has transformed “total peace” into a state policy, from the approval of Law 418, which enforces Colombia’s commitment to maintain contact to negotiate the end of clashes with armed groups.

In 2023, the Colombian state and the ELN even signed a ceasefire, continuing the peace process started in 2016. But tensions with two of Colombia’s leading guerrilla groups shuddered the government’s peace plans: ELN’s kidnapping in the father of a famous Colombian soccer player and the momentary departure from the central state (EMC) of the EMC (EMC) state negotiation.

In February this year, Colombian officials reported that the two guerrillas were violating the truce agreement signed in peace negotiations. ELN accuses the Colombian state to sabotage the peace process. Today, conversations between the guerrilla group and the executive are suspended.

Eln releases hostages

Still on Monday (3), after the mediation of the People’s Defender’s Office, a human rights body in Colombia, the ELN released 22 people who had in captivity since mid-January in the Catatumbo region.

Olguín Mayorga Pérez, president of the National Victims Association, told AFP that the liberation took place in the municipality of convinción, in the northern state of Santander, northeast region of the country.

Originally published by Brazil of fact on 04/03/2025
*with APF

Edition: Thalita Pires