Colombia’s northeastern department of Norte de Santander, which borders Venezuela, has endured one of its most violent months in recent memory. On August 31, a car bomb exploded outside a police station in the town of Los Patios, killing a Venezuelan citizen and wounding two officers and nine civilians. For residents like taxi driver Álvaro Mojica, who passed the station minutes before the blast, the attack confirmed a growing fear: violence once confined to the countryside is now reaching urban centers.
The bombing capped a month that began with another vehicle explosion near police headquarters in the city of Cúcuta and continued with a string of attacks on military and police units. In the town of Convención, guerrillas used 43 explosive devices against an army base. In El Carmen and Ábrego, drones rigged with explosives killed a sergeant and a soldier and wounded several others. Days earlier, drones also struck three police substations in El Zulia and Tibú, causing damage but no injuries.
Authorities attribute the violence to the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident fighters from the 33rd Front, both vying for control of smuggling routes into Venezuela and illegal economies that have long funded armed groups in the region. Officials say large-scale displacement from earlier this year has eased, but families continue fleeing between rural areas, and roughly 700 children in the Catatumbo region remain out of school due to landmine threats.
Read the full report at El Tiempo.
Source: El terrorismo y drones del Eln y las disidencias, el reto en Norte de Santander (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: lman, BY-ND 2.0 (via Openverse).