On March 3, Colombian President Gustavo Petro shocked many when he said during a televised Council of Ministers meeting that “Social organizations in Catatumbo are subordinated by weapons.”
His statements were immediately rejected by social organizations in the region who, since March 3, along with human rights defenders, media outlets, and others, have been conducting a Verification Commission in Catatumbo due to the humanitarian emergency in the region.
The organizations and movements in Catatumbo condemned the President’s accusations and demanded that he retract them. They consider the comments a form of stigmatization, similar to what previous governments, including such those of Duque, Santos or Uribe have done.
The Catatumbo Peasant Association (ASCAMCAT) demanded that President Gustavo Petro rectify the statements he made at the cabinet meeting held on March 3, 2025.
La Asociación Campesina del Catatumbo – ASCAMCAT exige rectificación en las declaraciones dadas por el presidente @petrogustavo en el marco del consejo de ministro realizado el día de ayer 3 de marzo del 2025. pic.twitter.com/KPJHPtS0r2
— AscamcatOficial (@AscamcatOficia) March 4, 2025
The struggle of the social organizations of Catatumbo
The peasant organization reminded the President that it is the social organizations that have rebuilt the social fabric in the region, proposed development alternatives, presented proposals for the substitution of coca crops, and denounced the systematic extrajudicial executions carried out by the military.
En medio de la #EmergenciaHumanitaria @petrogustavo señala al histórico movimiento social del #Catatumbo de estar supeditados a los actores armados, poniéndole en la mira de paramilitares e intentando deslegitimar lo que hace x la transformación del territorio. Exigimos se… pic.twitter.com/uczYsGqbST
— Congreso de los Pueblos (@CPueblos_Col) March 4, 2025
They also assert that the social organizations have led demands for the creation of a peasant reserve zone in Catatumbo, developed protection and self-protection mechanisms, and taken other actions to address the humanitarian crisis.
“Mr. President, as subjects of recognized changes in your development plan, we ask you to rectify your statements made yesterday, March 3, in the televised Council of Ministers, because it sharpens the stigmatization of our peasant organization, eliminates our guarantees for political participation, deepens the conditions of risk and increases the difficulties for the realization of the efforts we have deployed in this humanitarian route that we activated with the humanitarian caravan of February 4 in the face of the growing crisis that the region is experiencing today,” ASCAMCAT said in the statement.
The peasant organization also recalled that in recent years 17 ASCAMCAT social leaders have been murdered.
Similarly, one of the social leaders of the Catatumbo Social Integration Committee (CISCA) who participates in the Verification Commission “Let’s embrace Catatumbo” said: “We denounce the persecution, accusations and profiling against more than 30 community leaders of CISCA, Juntas Unidas and Festival del Río.”
From peace to Petro’s pacification
One of the concerns expressed by social organizations in Catatumbo is militarization, which they say does not resolve the humanitarian crisis and, on the contrary, worsens the situation.
During the televised Council of Ministers, the newly designated Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez Suárez, confirmed that 10,500 soldiers are deployed in Catatumbo.
Sánchez also alleged that some members of illegal groups were hiding in civilian homes. This claim by the former military officer raised concerns within the community, as similar accusations in the past have been linked to paramilitary collusion and extrajudicial executions.
Rather than generating calm, this announcement is worrying the community. In this region, extrajudicial executions committed by the military forces are still fresh in their memory, and although this territory has always been militarized, the illegal armed groups have not been defeated.
Social leader and former senator Alberto Castilla told Colombia Informa that he was surprised by a change in policy taken by the national government in Catatumbo.
Petro’s dangerous turn
Castilla recalled that in 2022, the government declared that Catatumbo would be the national capital of peace. Despite these announcements, the Petro government changed its position and, after armed clashes between the ELN and dissidents, decided to declare a state of internal unrest and strengthen the militarization of the territory.
“We don’t know what it’s due to, but the change has to do with leaving aside the political solution and believing that it is possible to win the conflict by deepening the war,” said Alberto Castilla.
Likewise, the peasant leader assured: “We hope that the Government does not abandon us, but if it does and leaves, what it does is condemn this territory to solitude, and in the words of the President of the Republic, it is condemning us to another 100 years of solitude by the last Aureliano Buendía, as he himself acknowledged. We warn that this people insists, resists and puts forward proposals for peace.”
Pact for Catatumbo or promises?
During the Council of Ministers, the National Planning Department (DNP) announced five structural axes for the implementation of the Pact for Catatumbo.
DNP director Alexander López acknowledged that the path to design this plan began in 2023 with dialogue with the community to define the main needs.
Likewise, López said that the first axis of the Social Pact for Catatumbo for Peace and Territorial Transformation will be the Regional Educational Network and the University of Catatumbo.
The second axis is the Economic, Agroindustrial and Productive Reconversion Transformation for the Endogenous Development of Catatumbo, which includes different projects.
The official also announced that the third axis will be the Regional Health Model, the fourth axis will focus on Connectivity and Road Infrastructure and Intermodal Transport in Catatumbo. Finally, the fifth axis is Territorial and Participatory Planning in Catatumbo.
“This strategic planning begins on day 1 when the Social Pact for Peace in Catatumbo is signed, with projections for 5 and 10 years, in the short, medium and long term. Each sector presented its bets and the investments planned for the next two years, until August 7, 2026, with resources from the General Budget of the Nation,” explained Alexander López, director of the DNP.
Promises to replace coca crops
For her part, Gloria Miranda, director of the Illicit Crop Substitution Program, explained that 53 thousand hectares of illicit crops have been identified in the region, mainly in Tibú with 52%, 6,800 hectares in El Tarra and 4,300 hectares in Sardinata.
The official announced the Payment for Eradication program, which plans to pay 1,280,000 Colombian pesos, equivalent to 90% of the minimum wage, for 12 months to each farmer to replace coca crops.
He also proposed the comprehensive replacement of the production circuit. To this end, the Government is considering the delivery of associative credits of between 15 and 20 million Colombian pesos.
Skepticism of social organizations
Although the Petro Government reaffirmed its commitment to the Social Pact for Catatumbo, the University, and resources to promote the substitution of coca crops during the Council of Ministers, skepticism remains among the communities and social organizations of the region.
Members of CISCA, who asked not to be mentioned, explain that the Government wasted time. Since last year there has been little progress on the promises made to the population of Catatumbo.
They explain that there was a period of time in the region in which a crisis in coca crops motivated the population to look for other alternatives.
Many people took out loans or went into debt because of promises from the government to support the replacement of coca, which did not happen. Due to the debts, people returned to planting and producing coca.
They also claim that there are more announcements than actual progress regarding the University of Catatumbo, which was announced by the president in 2022.
On February 25, a group of congressmen from the Historic Pact proposed a bill to create the University. This measure was a way of putting pressure on the government itself to move forward with the construction of the university.
Socializamos el PL de creación de la #UniversidadParaElCatatumbo con las y los protagonistas de este logro: @AscamcatOficia, @asuncat2019, @CiscaCatatumbo y todas las comunidades catatumberas que han luchado históricamente por su educación.
En el Catatumbo solo 1.3% de los… pic.twitter.com/3qhG1MX6s5
— Gloria Flórez Senadora (@GloriaFlorezSI) February 25, 2025
Senator Gloria Flórez even acknowledged the struggle carried out by ASCAMCAT, CISCA, and the Association for Peasant Unity of the Catatumbo Region (ASUNCAT) to make the University of Catatumbo a reality, in a region where only 1.3% of youth can access higher education.
This article was translated from Spanish and adapted from an article published on Colombia Informa.
