Bogotá (AFP) – "No one wants to stop the war" in Colombia, the ombudsman tells AFP. Ten years after the peace agreement with the FARC, the groups that remained in arms and the State forces fuel the last internal conflict on the continent.

First modification: 05/11/2026 - 14:57

The country marked by more than six decades of conflict registers constant attacks with drones or car bombs, kidnappings and murders perpetrated by mafias dedicated mainly to drug trafficking.

The armed conflict fueled by drug trafficking leaves almost 10 million victims, most of them displaced.

These organizations - which previously challenged the Colombian State as far-right guerrillas or paramilitaries - increased their power after the historic 2016 agreement that disarmed the FARC.

And the violence shows no signs of abating after the arrival to the presidency almost three months ago of the right-wing Abelardo de la Espriella, who promised to subdue the insurgents with the motto of "grave or jail" and buried all peace initiatives.

"The war is growing day by day. Nobody wants to stop the war," defender Iris Marín said Wednesday night in her office in Bogotá.

"The armed groups do not want to stop the war and they have shown it. They are cruel, they have not taken advantage of the opportunities for peace. And the national government, for that same reason, is not going to stop the war either," he explained.

According to Marín, the iron fist policies of the current government can trigger greater pressure from illegal groups on public forces and more violence against the civilian population in strategic territories and corridors for cocaine trafficking.

"Surely they will respond by also showing their military power, their armed and intimidation capacity," he stated.

And on the other hand, "armed groups are more nervous than they were before, especially those who were in the process of negotiating" peace with Gustavo Petro (2022-2026), the first leftist president in the history of Colombia.

"militaristic" government

While news about military operations once again make headlines and authorities highlight captures, drug seizures and combatant casualties, Marín regrets that the mistakes of facing the conflict without a "comprehensive vision" are repeated.

In the opinion of the defender, a policy should be created to combat institutional weakness, impunity and encourage the development of the territories where the conflict took root.

This is "a much more militaristic government, a government that prefers to make (...) the military persecution as a kind of scenery, like a show," he said.

De la Espriella usually reports on military operations with war music in the background, a gun on his belt and even surrounded by corpses in white bags.

The defender questions the dissemination of these images on the president's networks.

"It only exalts the use of weapons, the use of force, but also, the most worrying part, which is symbolic, is the disregard for a person's life for being a member of an illegal armed group," he said.

"Even those who have committed the most serious crimes have safeguards in international humanitarian law," he explained.

It is also skeptical of measures such as the temporary militarization of cities affected by outbreaks of violence.

Since taking office on August 7, De la Espriella has already ordered the militarization of the tourist port of Santa Marta and Cúcuta, the capital on the border with Venezuela.

Marín considers that the strategy offers limited results.

Militarization "can generate State presence, but it will not necessarily be sustainable or solve the underlying problems," he explained.

Children trapped in war

The defender also warns about the impact of the war on minors recruited by armed groups.

The new government's bombing campaign against guerrilla camps leaves at least eight teenagers dead.

Marín mentions regions such as Catatumbo, Cauca and Guaviare, guerrilla strongholds where the recruitment of minors is a common practice.

"Even so, the operations have continued" in those areas, he regrets.

The death of minors in bombings has also marked the previous governments of the right-wing Iván Duque (2018-2022) and Petro.

"We are getting used to the fact that it is collateral damage of war," he said.

Last year alone, 428 cases of child recruitment were recorded, according to the Ombudsman's Office.

For Marín, this phenomenon is "the saddest photo" of the state's failure to protect the civilian population and, especially, children, the most vulnerable in the Colombian conflict.

© 2026 AFP

The content you requested does not exist or is no longer available.