Oliver Lawson

(5/5) The Peace and Reconciliation Foundation (#PARES) reports a total of 46 armed clashes in Antioquia in 2025, 34 between armed groups and 12 directed at the state.

This indicates that conflict in the region is fundamentally about the power dynamics between groups, not state control.

(4/5) On Saturday, a group of people opened fire on a military base in Anorí. There are conflicting reports about whether this is Clan del Golfo or Frente 36 (aligned with Calarcá).

(3/5) The risk to soldiers is real. In 2025, 44 soldiers/members of law enforcement were killed in the department of Antioquia, the highest total in 12 years.

(2/5) Speaking with journalists, Briceño's Secretary of Government said law enforcement struggled to enter the region due to the high density of antipersonnel mines.

(1/5) Residents of 10 villages in Antioquia, #Colombia are confined to their homes by violence.

Clashes yesterday between Clan del Golfo and #FARC dissidents aligned with “Calarcá Córdoba” in Briceño, Antioquia, left the residents of 10 villages confined to their homes

Colombia: el corredor de guerra que genera deforestación y desplazamientos en los pueblos indígenas nukak y jiw La vía Tomachipán-Cumare es una trocha ilegal de 47.5 kilómetros usada por las disidencias de las FARC como un corredor estratégico.

(5/5) They are fighting over a strip of land between the Inírida and Guaviare rivers, which hosts a series of illegal trails carved out of the rainforest for drug trafficking. I've linked an interesting report from @mongabay.com on the dynamics in the region. es.mongabay.com/2026/01/colo...

(4/5) The fronts loyal to Calarcá continue to pursue a demobilization agreement under President Petro's Paz Total framework, but Mordisco has not participated since 2024.

(3/5) Calarcá was previously a key figure aligned with the EMC, a loose confederation of FARC fronts led by Iván Mordisco. But the two have been at odds since 2024, when Calarcá split off following a disagreement over peace negotiations.

(2/5) The bodies were recovered along roads near the hamlet of La Paz, near El Retorno. These were casualties of a fight between FARC dissidents loyal to "Iván Mordisco" and those who follow Calarcá.

(1/5) Yesterday, the Colombian army confirmed the deaths of 26 people in confrontations between FARC dissidents in the department of Guaviare, on the frontier of the Colombian Amazon.

Panamá incauta 13,5 toneladas de cocaína en un barco, entre los 10 detenidos hay ecuatorianos Panamá registra su mayor incautación de cocaína desde 2008, con el decomiso de 13,5 toneladas en un barco al suroeste de Isla San José. Las autoridades informaron que 10 hombres fueron detenidos duran...

Panama just made its largest maritime cocaine seizure since 2008: 13.5 tons. Authorities arrested 10 people.

Since they are _alive_ and not _barbarically blown out of the water_, these 10 people are all potential sources of intelligence to dismantle criminal networks.

And those 10 people were such a mix of nationalities - from Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. Suggests a pretty broad network; will be interesting to see what comes of this.

Interesting that ~10 agents chose to mask for this photo, while the rest were apparently fine with showing their faces.

Do you think this has any connection with the government operation in Rio? Or completely unrelated?

(3/3) Maderas del Darién allegedly gave 730 million COP to the #AUC through indirect channels.

A report from the Prosecutor’s Office indicates that Maderas raised this money by extracting it from poor Afro-Colombian communities.

(2/3) A specialized court in Antioquia just sentenced four employees of the Maderas del Darién lumber company (a subsidiary of Triplex Pizano SA) to six years of house arrest.

Triplex Pizano operated in Uraba when Colombia’s largest paramilitary groups, the AUC, controlled the region.

Condenan a empresarios que financiaron a los paramilitares de Carlos Castaño en Urabá Se trata de cuatro empresarios de Maderas del Darién, una de las empresas más importantes en el Urabá.

(1/3) Really excellent piece in El Espectador this morning from David Escobar Moreno on the businesses connections that funded paramilitaries in the 90s and early 2000s in #Colombia.
www.elespectador.com/investigacio...

(5/5) Both attacks were allegedly perpetrated by #FARC dissidents. This type of attack has become sickeningly common in Colombia as guerrillas continue to escalate their use of explosives.

(4/5) The news follows two separate explosive attacks in #Colombia this past Monday - a car bomb detonation in Saurez, Cauca and a flurry of 11 explosives dropped by drones on the town of Robles, Valle de Cauca.

(3/5) The mayor has put the city into a semi-lockdown, with restrictions on vehicle parking near significant locations and the prohibition of the sale and consumption of liquor.

(2/5) Authorities believe the armaments would have been used to attack the nearby military base, home to the Batallón Simón Bolívar. However, no clear culprit has been identified.

Over the weekend, the National Army conducted controlled demolitions of 24 #explosive devices found in the city.

(1/5) People in Tunja woke up to find a mortar in the street.

As dawn broke on Saturday, residents in the Curubal neighbourhood of Tunja, the capital of Boyacá, discovered a blue pickup truck retrofitted with a platform for launching mortars.

(5/5 Revenue from gold has helped swell the ranks of guerrillas and drug traffickers in the region, who’s numbers have reportedly increased from 400 to 2800 in recent years. This means the 600 soldiers in the region face an uphill battle to maintain control, despite reinforcements

(4/5) Confrontations between FARC dissidents, the ELN, and Clan del Golfo over control of illegal mining in the area caused the displacement/confinement of at least 7000 people this year.

(3/5) To compete for control of the mines, the ELN and FARC dissidents have allegedly formed a uneasy, united front against the Clan del Golfo.

This attack in San Pablo is only the latest.

(2/5) The gold mine at San Pablo is located in the Serranía de San Lucas, a strategic corridor notorious for illegal mining.

The surrounding area reportedly produces 100 tons of #gold every year, a large portion of which is controlled by guerrillas and drug traffickers.

(1/5) #colombian leftist guerrillas the #ELN killed five miners in a massacre in a gold mine on Tuesday. They arrived without warning and opened fire indiscriminately into a group of workers.

The mine, near the town of San Pablo, Bolívar, was reportedly controlled by the Clan del Golfo.

(5/5) But Operation Northern Shield has elicited a brutal response from the Jaime Martínez front, of which this car bombing in Suárez is only the latest example.

(4/5) In response, the Colombian security forces have launched Operation Northern Shield, which commits 800 troops to attack the Jaime Martínez front’s positions in the north of Cauca, including towns like Suárez.

(3/5) But the catalyst for all this was a flurry of 16 explosive attacks on June 10th across Cauca, Valle de Cauca, and Cali on June 10th which have also been attributed to the Jaime Martinez Front.