HomeNewsBriefAre EPL Narco-Guerrillas Expanding Across Colombia?
BRIEF

Are EPL Narco-Guerrillas Expanding Across Colombia?

COLOMBIA / 24 OCT 2016 BY JAMES BARGENT EN

The narco-guerrillas of the EPL are expanding both in their traditional stronghold and across Colombia according to a new investigation, which suggests the group could be seeking to capitalize on the current flux in the Colombian underworld in order to emerge as a major national player.

Sources consulted for a report by La Silla Vacía have described how criminalized remnants of the demobilized guerrilla group the Popular Liberation Army (Ejército Popular de Liberación - EPL) have launched a far-reaching expansion plan.

The group has traditionally been confined to the eastern Catatumbo sub-region on the border with Venezuela, where it has access to coca crops and drug trafficking routes and can exert tight social control over communities. However, Wilfredo Cañizares, director of the human rights organization Fundación Progresar, told La Silla Vacía that the group is now setting up new military fronts in the department of Antioquia in the northwest, La Guajira in the north east and the central region known as the Eje Cafetero, or Coffee Axis.

In addition, the EPL has been expanding into new territories in Catatumbo, occupying municipalities and taking over drug trafficking routes previously controlled by the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - FARC), numerous official and unofficial sources told La Silla Vacía.

Locals in Catatumbo also disputed the picture of the EPL painted by the authorities -- that of a small group of around 50 members that is entirely shorn of its ideological beliefs and concerned only with criminal activities. Instead, sources consulted by La Silla Vacía said they consider the EPL to be a guerrilla organization composed of up to 1,000 fighters that indeed maintains political structures.

InSight Crime Analysis

Catatumbo is one of the most prized criminal territories in Colombia; it is home to a significant portion of the country's coca crop and critical drug trafficking arteries into Venezuela. Moreover, the state has at best a tenuous control over the territory, allowing armed groups to flourish there.

InSight Crime's investigations in Catatumbo suggest the EPL could become the most powerful underworld actor in this territory as they are assuming control of drug trade interests run by the FARC, who are currently poised to demobilize if their stalled peace process with the state can be pushed over the finish line.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of the EPL

However, if it is true that the EPL are also looking to expand their presence on a national level, then this displays an unprecedented level of ambition for the group, which, if realized, could see them established as powerful national as well as regional criminal actors.

However, such a strategy would not be without risk. The EPL would likely lose the substantial levels of social support and control they have in Catatumbo, which has been crucial to their success in the region. In addition, while in Catatumbo they are allied with the other armed groups present -- the FARC and the smaller guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (Ejército Nacional de Liberación - ELN) -- in other regions they would likely find themselves coming into conflict with rival criminal structures, most dauntingly, the Urabeños, whose network expands into all three regions mentioned in the report.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COLOMBIA / 6 SEP 2022

Will the killing of seven police officers allegedly by ex-FARC Mafia derail Gustavo Petro's 'Total Peace' plan?…

ARGENTINA / 5 JUL 2022

Why did drug trafficking enjoy such a boom during the COVID-19 pandemic…

AUC / 26 JUN 2022

The former paramilitary commander and drug lord, alias “Memo Fantasma,” may walk out of prison in Colombia on June 28.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

All Eyes on Ecuador

2 JUN 2023

Our coverage of organized crime in Ecuador continues to be a valuable resource for international and local news outlets. Internationally, Reuters cited our 2022 Homicide Round-Up,…

WORK WITH US

Open Position: Social Media and Engagement Strategist

27 MAY 2023

InSight Crime is looking for a Social Media and Engagement Strategist who will be focused on maintaining and improving InSight Crime’s reputation and interaction with its audiences through publishing activities…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.