Criminal activity has escalated in a key transit corridor in southern Colombia, driven by divisions between ex-FARC factions in the area, illustrating how government peace talks appear to be roiling relations among criminal factions.
The Ombudsman’s Office of Colombia released an “early warning” (alerta temprana) on August 27 outlining the rise of criminal activity and violence in the department of Huila, particularly by the Jorge Dario Gutiérrez and Iván Díaz fronts of the Central General Staff’s (Estado Mayor Central – EMC) Jorge Suárez Briceño bloc.
The report classified Neiva, the department’s capital, along with the municipalities of Tello, Baray, and Colombia, as extremely high-risk areas.
Huila is an important transit route for drugs, with connections north to the departments of Caquetá, Meta, Cundinamarca, Tolima, and the nation’s capital, Bogotá.
“What makes Huila attractive is that it has become a corridor to move [drugs], whether from Caquetá or Cauca, to transport it to its main destination in Amazonas, where it passes to Brazil to be sold,” Huila Government Secretary Mauricio Muñoz told RCN Radio in December 2023.
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This year, 17 incidents involving explosives have been reported, some of which detonated and others were intercepted in time.
In the last two years, the EMC has restricted citizen mobility, carried out killings and kidnappings, extorted local businesses, and recruited heavily in the area.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), humanitarian groups have been prevented from accessing the populations in Huila, as well as in neighboring Caquetá and Meta, where civilian movement is also restricted.
“Humanitarian emergencies continue growing in areas where events like this had not occurred for a long time,” according to a September 3-OCHA report.
The Ombudsman Office warns that if left unchecked, the EMC factions could expand their control to nearby areas. The authority also highlights recent reports of activity by self-defense groups, which are currently under investigation.
InSight Crime Analysis
The surge in violence and criminal activity in Huila stems from divisions within the EMC over peace talks with the Colombian government.
On August 21, the EMC’s Amazonas bloc, which is among those led by Néstor Gregorio Vera Fernández, alias “Iván Mordisco,” published a statement on X declaring “the beginning of military clashes with the renegades.”
Mordisco’s factions broke off talks with the Colombian government in March and now consider those still negotiating — like the Jorge Dario Gutiérrez and Iván Díaz fronts — to be traitors.
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Since then, activity has ramped up on both sides. On March 30, the EMC fronts led by Mordisco announced the creation of a new central front that would occupy the departments of Huila, Tolima, and Quindío.
“Right now, Huila is acting as a communications and logistics corridor, as well as a sort of political connector for Mordisco, between the western and eastern parts of the country,” Juana Cabezas, a researcher from the Institute of Peace and Development Studies (Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz – Indepaz) told InSight Crime. “Being a corridor means that its territories are going to be the site of violence, and that is what we are seeing.”
An Ombudsman alert from April this year reported that 102,000 people in two municipalities were at “imminent risk” of human rights violations due to the expansion of the renegade EMC factions, including the Iván Díaz front. An Ombudsman statement on July 4 noted that forced recruitment of minors has increased on the border between Huila and neighboring Cauca.
Huila was historically dominated by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC). Since the guerrilla group signed a peace treaty with the government in 2016, the area has been dominated by ex-FARC dissident groups, most recently the EMC.
“Before the peace accords, the area was totally controlled by the southeastern bloc, and after the accords, it was where there was the least conflict between armed groups,” said Cabezas. “Now, it is the highest alert,” she added.
Featured image: Three members of the EMC announce the creation of the new central bloc. Source: El Espectador