Colombia militarizes Cúcuta on Venezuela border after mayoral hopeful's killing and blast

Cúcuta placed under temporary military control

President Abelardo de la Espriella ordered the immediate militarization of Cúcuta on Thursday, 29 October, a city of more than 800,000 people on the border with Venezuela. The army will step up its presence in the city in coordination with the National Police, with the stated aims of strengthening territorial control, protecting residents and confronting criminal and narco-terrorist structures. The president described the deployment as temporary and presented it as the state's response to a week of security crisis. He said he had ordered the defence minister and senior commanders to act with the full capacity of the state.

In a statement to the press, he put the measure in these words:

“I have ordered the immediate militarization of Cúcuta. This militarization will be temporary, while we stabilize public order.”

The killing and the bombing

Miguel Castellanos Serrano, a retired police major who had served as the city's government secretary, was shot dead on Monday, 26 October, near a petrol station in the department of Norte de Santander. He was usually guarded, but on this occasion he was travelling without an escort, which reports describe as rare. He had entered politics as a candidate for mayor and was known for his campaigns against crime and for access to justice. The next day, Tuesday, 27 October, an explosive device went off near the international Francisco de Paula Santander bridge, close to offices of the Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales (DIAN). At least six people were wounded, but accounts differ on who was hurt: some give four police officers among the injured, while another count puts the total at seven, including several officers.

Joint operations from 3 November

Joint operations by the army, the police and the Bloque Operativo de Seguridad Urbana (Bosur), a tactical team the president created, are due to begin on Tuesday, 3 November. Some reports name the combined deployment Operation Esparta, which will run alongside a security block for the city. No source gives the number of officers who will be deployed. De la Espriella said the new capacities would allow the state to step up operations against terrorism, pursue those responsible for the violence, hit criminal finances and dismantle groups that seek to subjugate the population. He also ordered other territorial control operations to continue.

He added that the aim goes beyond numbers on the street:

“It is not only about increasing the number of uniformed officers on the streets. It is about recovering control and guaranteeing the protection of citizens.”

Context: Santa Marta and armed groups

Cúcuta is the second locality where the president has deployed the army, after the coastal tourist city of Santa Marta, where he ordered militarization in late September. That move followed a warning of an armed strike by the Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada, known as 'Los Pachenca'. Guerrilla groups including the ELN have contested the border zone for decades over drug trafficking and illegal mining. Since taking office in early August, the president has launched an offensive against guerrilla camps that has already caused dozens of deaths, at least eight of them minors. The Defensoría had warned since late 2024, through its early-warning system, about risks in municipalities of the metropolitan area.

What happens next

Joint operations are scheduled to start on 3 November, and the president plans to visit Cúcuta the following week to assess progress. The number of troops has not been given, so the scale of the deployment cannot yet be measured. The city's status is described as temporary, with no end date stated in the sources.