However, the government still maintains a small presence, and without the organized crime control of the FARC, the Catatumbo region was left in a power vacuum.

[13] Insight Crime places the start of the war as 14 March 2018, but says by this point it "had already been brewing for months without authorities intervening to put a stop to it".

[15] They also used propaganda tactics: one event that "intensified" the discord in January 2018 was a press release from EPL criticizing ELN for guerilla actions towards indigenous people of Venezuela.

[22] A massive influx of Venezuelan migrants in the later stages of the crisis, many willing to work for armed militia to survive, added manpower to the developing conflicts, and as they are particularly vulnerable, it drove up human rights abuses, too.

[17] In an effort to control human rights abuses, the military were deployed to the area, with over 5,600 personnel assigned to the war by August 2019, as reported by Reuters.

[13] The two leaders of the EPL, who are also known as "Los Pelusos", were Mauricio Pácora (an alias), until he was killed in a military operation in August 2019 at the age of 46 or 47, and Reinaldo Peñaranda, also known as "Pepe" (b.

A senior Frente 1 leader, Géner García Molina, also known as "Jhon 40", traveled to Catatumbo in early 2018 to help organize the group there.

They attempt to control civilians through intimidation tactics, including the murder of community leaders and human rights defenders located in the region.

[13] An offensive front was set up on 14 March 2018 between EPL and ELN, with 600 men fighting to try and finally decide the retake of land and power in the region.

Though no group claims the attack, it was suspected to be perpetrated by the ELN, who were growing increasingly concerned of EPL gaining recruits.

[29] A 12 August 2019 army reconnaissance mission over suspected ELN territory in Hacarí resulted in 3 injured soldiers, according to a military colonel.

[31] In August 2019, 5 suspected members of ELN, and a 26-year-old man presumed to be a head of logistics for EPL, were arrested by Norte de Santander police in separate raids.

[37] Local dioceses have asked for consideration of the community, saying that "this new war [threatens] the paths, the urban centers" and adding that "[c]hildren at home and in schools must be respected and protected, families cannot be cornered and forced again to move away from fear and the threat of death.

Some residents who had been far enough away from the centers of conflict were not affected until the arrival of the soldiers; one farmer had six hectares of his land incinerated by the army so they could build trenches.

The HRW conducted interviews with over 80 people in the region, some by telephone and some in person in Cúcuta, and saw written testimonies from almost 500 victims of abuses from the conflicts.

[13] The report makes sure to point out that all statistics related to deaths, attacks, and abuses are almost certainly higher than documented because of a multitude of restrictions in recording complete information.

[17] The director of Human Rights Watch Americas, José Miguel Vivanco, assured that despite a peace treaty making appearances good, "[t]he country is at war in Catatumbo!