Event Summary
During the last week of December 2025, the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office has issued urgent statements warning of a serious humanitarian crisis that persists in the Catatumbo subregion, mainly in the municipalities of Tibú and El Tarra (Norte de Santander). The Ombudsman’s Office warns that since the beginning of 2025, there have been continuous armed clashes between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents from the 33rd Front of the FARC, who have systematically violated human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL), and that the situation has worsened with recent events involving confrontations, forced displacement and confinement. The Ombudsman’s Office has urgently called on national and regional authorities to provide immediate assistance, protect the civilian population and restore effective state presence in the area. In this context, recent clashes and the humanitarian crisis highlight the state’s limitations in guaranteeing security, rights and minimum conditions for citizen participation and civil society action in the territory.