SÃO PAULO, Brazil – After 8 days of a so-called armed strike determined by the left-wing guerrilla organization National Liberation Army (ELN), the Chocó department in the northwestern part of Colombia is finally going back to normalcy since Aug. 19.
Church officials have been asking the actors involved in the crisis to never again impose such forced confinement on the local people, as an estimated 50,000 residents were impacted and a humanitarian crisis resulted from the lack of food and medical supplies.
The armed strike was declared by the ELN during the worst moment of its peace talks with the Colombian government. The year-long ceasefire agreed by the rebels and Bogota in 2023 got to its end on Aug. 3, and no extension could be reached by the parties until now.
At the same time, the left-wing guerrilla group has been engaged in a war for territory against Clan del Golfo, an armed organization involved in several criminal actions, especially in international drug trafficking. The armed strike was decreed by the ELN allegedly to protect the population amid the bloody battles between the two bands.
That has not been the first time the inhabitants of several parts of Chocó have to comply with an armed strike. Only in 2023, six of such illegal operations were established by the ELN. In 2024, at least two other armed strikes had been declared before the August one.
A governmental agency informed that at least three people died as a consequence of the blockade. A pregnant woman and her baby died before they could go to a local clinic, as they had no fuel for their boat. A 18-month-old baby also died after she couldn’t be transferred to a hospital.
“Everything comes to us through the rivers. They’re our major means of communication. And they were closed by the ELN,” Bishop Mario Alvarez Gomez of Istmina-Tadó and Apostolic Administrator of Quibdo told Crux.
According to Alvarez, at least 600,000 people live in that area and 80 percent of them have African ancestry. Chocó is considered to be the poorest department of Colombia.
“Of course, that crisis was especially difficult for many people. But those things are not new around here. There’s a history of omission towards that region,” Alvarez added.
He said that the ELN and Clan del Golfo have gradually taken more and more control over Chocó’s territory over the past decades, being helped in such a process by corrupt politicians. They now dominate almost all the region, which borders Panama.
“That strike affected particularly the southern part of the department, isolating areas like Istmina,” the bishop said.
Humanitarian organizations that operate in the region, along with the Catholic Church, managed to convince the ELN to open a humanitarian corridor and allow some of the local river’s transporters to carry food and medicines to the villagers, something that began at the end of last week.
“The Church is widely respected [by such armed groups], and we’re generally allowed to get into all communities and to promote dialogue in a moment of crisis,” Alvarez said.
During critical moments, Church leaders are the ones who can walk all across the areas of conflagration, “pick up the bodies, give them a proper burial, distribute medicines to the people and also give them food,” the bishop continued.
The ELN said Aug. 23 will be its final date to resume negotiations with the government. The organization accuses President Gustavo Petro’s administration of failing to take some of the measures debated during the peace process, especially taking it out from the list of Organized Armed Groups, something that would impede the army to operate against it.
“But it’s not easy for the government to take such a decision, given the pressures it suffers from domestic actors and also international observers,” Alvarez said.
The government is also preparing to establish peace talks with Clan del Golfo, “but it’s still unknown how things will go on, given that it’s a group that has been growing stronger,” he added.
The Church is one of the main national mediators in the peace talks between the ELN and the government. Despite some success, the process hasn’t been able to produce more enduring fruits till now.
“We trust the national government and the ELN can reach a deal. It’s not right that those communities keep suffering with that tragedy of confinement, displacement, and death,” Alvarez said.
Chocó is one of the richest departments of Colombia when it comes to natural resources, available water, and minerals, the bishop explained.
“With so much wealth, we have so much poverty. It’s like a curse,” he said.
Alvarez recalled that the ELN itself has expressed its desire for peace and said “everybody must fulfill their promises.”
“As a Church, we are promoters of peace and dialogue. That’s why we always hope that crises like that will not happen again,” he concluded.