Quibdó, Colombia – Local officials, community leaders and residents in Colombia’s eastern Chocó department fear that the entry of a third armed group to the region will aggravate the existing humanitarian crisis.
Last week, authorities reported that the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), or Central General Staff, a dissident group of the demobilized FARC guerrillas, are present in Chocó for the first time.
The group is reportedly working alongside the Gaitanist Army of Colombia (EGC) – previously known as the AGC or Clan del Golfo – in its ongoing fight against the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerilla, which has seen a period of intensification this month.
Chocó’s Secretary of the Interior, Francisco Vidal, told The Bogotá Post that members of the EMC are moving into the area through the Calima River Basin, which borders Chocó to the south in the Valle de Cauca Department.
Vidal explained that the entry of a new armed actor will worsen the conflict and the ongoing crisis, which has already displaced at least 3,500 people.
“What this does is… aggravates the humanitarian crisis, because it is one more actor that enters the conflict,” said the Secretary.
The recent fighting has been concentrated in the remote San Juan River Basin, where EGC forces have been pushing south, threatening ELN control over the region.
The newly arrived EMC is entering from the south and pushing north, effectively surrounding the ELN.
Andres Preciado, Director of Conflict and Security at Fundación Ideas para la Paz, suggests that the ELN has been losing ground.
“The ELN has suffered significant territorial losses at the hands of the [AGC] and is resorting to other measures to halt its advance,” Preciado told The Bogotá Post.
These measures include last week’s paro armado, or armed strike, which confined thousands of people to their homes under threat of violence.
Vidal explained that the ELN is resorting to more drastic tactics.
“We have witnessed actions that had not been seen for a long time, such as the use of gas cylinders loaded with explosives,” the Secretary said.
He also told The Bogotá Post that the area affected by the ELN’s actions has expanded, further intensifying the crisis. While the department has seen many armed strikes in past years, they were usually confined to six municipalities in the San Juan River Basin. Last week’s action saw incidents in 15 municipalities.
“Escalations by this armed group are increasing. It has expanded its presence to regions previously unaffected,” said Vidal.
While the current conflict between the AGC and ELN in Chocó has been ongoing since 2021, it appears to be escalating.
Elizabeth ‘Chava’ Moreno, a human rights leader from the San Juan region and Coordinator of the Interethnic Forum for Solidarity in Chocó (FISCH), warned that the entry of the EMC will only worsen the conflict.
“The presence of various armed actors aggravates the situation and also makes the confrontations more eminent and recurrent,” Moreno told The Bogotá Post.
Chocó’s Governor, Nubia Carolina Córdoba, has been petitioning the national government over the past weeks for assistance in dealing with the ongoing crisis.
On Saturday, The Bogotá Post attended a meeting between a national government delegation and local leaders and residents in Condoto, a town in the San Juan region.
At a gymnasium in the town used to host the event, successive speakers directed their frustration at the government towards Lilia Solano, director of the national government’s Victims Unit, which manages reparations for victims of Colombia’s armed conflict.
In at times heated speeches, mayors from the region criticized the state for neglecting the needs of Chocó for so long.
The voice of the mayor of Istmina, Chocó second city about two hour’s drive south from the capital Quibdó, boomed through the room as he railed against the empty promises of successive governments, to rapturous applause.
“Today my voice speaks loudly, but I bear a social and historical fatigue, I can’t stand it any longer… we want the active presence of the government in the territory, we want institutions,” said Mayor Jaison Mosquera Sánchez.
But despite locals viewing the conflict as much a social as a security problem, the government continues to prioritize military action.
At the meeting, the Vice Minister for Social Dialogue and Human Rights, Gabriel Rondón Olave, highlighted the state’s security-first strategy.
“Security is the basis of development for any territory, that is why it is essential that concrete projects emerge from this conference and begin to be implemented immediately,” said Rondón.
After decades of neglect by the national government, residents of the conflict zone have learned to put their faith elsewhere.
Asked if she believes the government will act to help her region, Yulia, who was displaced as a child in 2004 and has lived in Condoto since, told The Bogotá Post that she hopes God will guide politicians.
“Above all, I have hope that God will touch their hearts, will give them the understanding to create strategies that will have an impact and that will actually serve to remedy the current conflict,” she said.