Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro signed off on a decree that gives the government extraordinary powers to respond to a major guerrilla offensive along the border with Venezuela.
The so-called State of Internal Commotion will apply to 19 municipalities in the Norte de Santander and Cesar provinces where an offensive by guerrilla group ELN killed more than 80 people were displaced 36,000 people since Saturday.
Decree 0062 will also apply to Cucuta, the capital of Norte de Santander and the largest city on the border with Venezuela.
The State of Exception allows the government to bypass Congress for three months when it comes to laws that seek to address the crisis in the northeast of the country.
“This extraordinary measure is essential to adopt mechanisms and use immediate tools to avert the crisis and prevent it from worsening,” said Decree 0062.
Given the seriousness of the crisis affecting the region of Catatumbo and the metropolitan area of Cúcuta, and the insufficiency of the ordinary means available to the authorities to avert the serious disturbance of public order, it is necessary to resort to a state of internal commotion.
Decree 0062
With its extraordinary powers, the national government seeks to embark on a military offensive to retake control over the Catatumbo region, which has largely fallen under ELN control.
At the same time, the government assumed extraordinary powers to attend a massive flow of forcibly displaced people that fled to Cucuta and normalize the situation in Catatumbo.
The decree comes after both FARC dissident group EMBF and paramilitary organization EGC vowed to restore order in the border region, which is of major strategic importance to drug traffickers.
Because of historical neglect of the region, Catatumbo has become one of Colombia’s main coca growing regions. Much of the cocaine produced in the border region is exported to Venezuela.
Petro suspended attempts to revive peace talks with the ELN in a response to the rebel offensive earlier this week.