The armed forces of Colombia and Venezuela kicked off coordinated offensives in the border region to recover territory lost to guerrilla group ELN and organized crime groups.
The offensive was initially announced by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who said that the “Operation Catatumbo Blitz” on his side of the border was carried out “in coordination with the government of [Colombian] President Gustavo Petro.”
The joint operation was “based on an idea of binational, integrated, economic and social development, with a profoundly human and unitary character among our peoples,” said Maduro on social media platform Telegram.
The Venezuelan operation would be taking place in Tachira and Zulia, two states across the border from Catatumbo, where the Colombian government declared a State of Commotion in response to a bloody ELN offensive last week.
In a post on social media platform X, Petro called the joint offensive a “military counternarcotics operation.”
We seek collaboration between armies in the fight against the ELN. A border without mafias must be the ultimate goal for the tranquility of the population, for peace and for sovereignty.
President Gustavo Petro
Catatumbo and the neighboring Venezuelan states are of major importance for the international drug trade.
Much of the cocaine grown in Catatumbo is smuggled across the border and from there sent to destination markets across the globe.
The joint operation is the first since the governments of Colombia and Venezuela decided to normalize diplomatic relations in 2022.
According to Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, the rupture of ties between the two neighbors in 2019 allowed the ELN to grow its guerrilla organization in the Norte de Santander province, including Catatumbo, from 1,500 to more than 2,000 fighters.
The military offensive seeks to reestablish state authority in the border region and allow the return of more than 50,000 people who were displaced because of ELN violence in the past two weeks.
The government also announced far-reaching reforms and development programs in the region to end locals’ dependency on the production and export of cocaine.
