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Colombia’s most tense frontier is the Catatumbo region, which extends along the border with Venezuela in the Norte de Santander department.

This border region, which is rich in oil reserves and coca plants but impoverished and neglected, has historically seen violent fighting between armed groups battling for territorial control.

Colombia’s largest remaining guerrilla force, the National Liberation Army (ELN), is active across Venezuela’s porous border.

Some of their fighters drive us to meet their commanders after they arrange for an Al Jazeera reporting team there.

This region is still rife with tension. Despite peace negotiations reached in 2016, thousands of people were forced to flee in January as a result of fighting between the ELN and a rebellious faction from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The conflict centers on gaining access to Venezuela’s border, which is a crucial means of removing drugs from the country.

When you first enter the area, you immediately see that this is where the ELN is absolute control. There is no proof that the nation’s military exists. The sideroads are decorated with ENL flags, and the signs express the group’s current perception of Colombia.

They claim that “total peace is a failure.”

Mobile phone signal is also lacking. The Al Jazeera team is informed that phone companies do not want to pay taxes on the armed groups that control the area.

When Gustavo Petro became president, he vowed to put a total peace plan into place with the armed groups in Colombia. However, the ELN’s negotiations, especially those with them, were difficult.

Government officials in Catatumbo have suspended the peace talks, but they now say they are prepared to resume them.

In a small, mountainous home, Al Jazeera interacts with Commander Ricardo and Commander Silvana. They claim that the interview needs to go quickly because they are concerned about potential drone attacks and reconnaissance reconnaissance aircraft flying around the area.

Some of their rivals accompany the commanders. When asked how many people live nearby, they respond, “We are thousands, and not everyone is wearing their uniform.” Some are “urban guerrillas”

According to the government, there are about 3, 000 fighters in the ELN. However, it could be much higher.

The region’s commander Ricardo claims there may be a chance for peace.

He claims that the ELN has been battling for a political solution for 30 years, despite various challenges. We hoped that Petro would help us advance along the way. But that was a thing. In Colombia, there has never been peace. The graves’ peace is what we have.

Prior to the talks being suspended, the group and the government had been negotiating in Mexico. Our central command would, in my opinion, agree that the agreements we reached in Mexico could pave the way for a political solution to this conflict, Commander Ricardo tells Al Jazeera.

US threat of drugs

Armed groups are also on alert in this area due to the conflict between the Colombian state and itself. What was once a domestic Colombian conflict has gained an international dimension thanks to the US military campaign against alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific and the US’s aggressive attitude toward Venezuela’s neighbor.

These people are not referred to as guerrillas but as “narco-terrorists” by US President Donald Trump’s administration, and it is not a possibility that they will be attacked on Colombian soil.

More than 62 people have died as a result of the US operation, which started in early September, along with 14 boats and a semi-submersible.

Some of the commanders’ extradition requests are made by the US, and they are alleged to be wanted criminals.

The ELN views US strikes against alleged drug-carriers in the Caribbean as another example of US imperialism, as well as the military deployment there to put pressure on Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro.

One of those boats, according to the US government, belonged to the ELN. Why don’t they capture them and disclose what they did to the world? Asks Commander Ricardo. “But no, they bomb them,” they reply.

He also issues a warning about the possibility of the ELN collaborating with the US. We will have to see how we react if Trump attacks Venezuela, he says, but that’s not just for the better. Because I’m certain there will be many, many people who will use a weapon because it’s too much, “It’s] all of Latin America.” It must end that the United States has the power to rule over people without allowing them to exercise their right to self-determination.

The Cuban Revolution served as an inspiration for the ELN. However, it has been involved in extortion, drug trafficking, and kidnappings over the years.

The ELN is different from other armed organizations in the country, according to Commander Silvana, who was a teenager when she first joined the organization.

She claims that “our principles indicate that we are not involved in drug trafficking.” The international community has been informed of this. Taxes remain in the regions that we have controlled for over 60 years. Of course, we also tax coca if it exists.

Colombia has long been a key US ally in the fight against drug trafficking. Petro has since started to question US policy in the Caribbean, contending that Washington’s approach to security and immigration is more accurate than regional realities.

He has criticized the US military’s presence and naval operations close to Venezuela, warning that they could lead to tensions rather than fostering cooperation.

Trump has claimed that Petro, a former guerrilla, is a drug trafficker by himself.

Petro retorted incredulously, saying, “Colombia has never been rude to the United States.” It has, in fact, devoted a lot of its time to its culture. But you don’t know anything about Colombia.

Trump’s remarks were also criticized as offensive and a direct threat to Colombia’s sovereignty by the country’s foreign ministry, which vowed to demand international support for Petro and Colombia’s autonomy.

A local Colombian conflict could become a larger regional conflict as a result of the belligerent US policy toward Venezuela and Colombia, both led by leftist presidents.

Israel has continued to carry out deadly attacks across Gaza, killing at least 236 Palestinians and injuring more than 600 others, as per the Gaza-based Ministry of Health, which was facilitated by the US.

Three more people have died in Gaza, according to hospitals in Gaza, and three more bodies have been recovered from beneath collapsed buildings in the past 24 hours. The ministry reported on Sunday that another victim perished from wounds from previous attacks.

A Palestinian man was killed by an Israeli drone strike in the Shujayea neighborhood in northern Gaza, just to name a few victims. Without providing any evidence, the Israeli military claimed that he had approached its troops after crossing the “yellow line” marking the ceasefire boundary.

The army claimed in a statement that the man “posed an immediate threat to troops in the northern Gaza Strip,” which prompted an airstrike to “reduce the threat.”

The bodies of 500 Palestinians have been recovered from under the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings, according to Gaza’s health ministry, according to a report from the Gaza-based Health Ministry. This was a result of Israel’s two-year genocidal war and ongoing bombardment that left much of the region in ruins.

Separately, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office reported on X on Sunday evening that the Red Cross had received three bodies of Israeli prisoners who had passed away.

According to the ceasefire’s terms, Israel must now return the bodies of 45 Palestinian prisoners who have died, with 15 for each Israeli captive who has been taken back.

Accusations of disinformation in the US

After the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) falsely accused Hamas of looting an aid truck in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, without providing any supporting proof, tensions grew. The claim came after drone footage that allegedly showed “suspected Hamas elements” seizing humanitarian supplies was made public.

The government media office in Gaza refuted the claims, accusing Washington of disseminating disinformation to smear Palestinian authorities.

The media office claims that this accusation is completely false and was fabricated from the beginning and is part of a comprehensive media disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting the Palestinian police force.

Despite Israel’s ongoing interference, the statement continued that Gaza’s police “are performing their national and humanitarian duty by securing aid and protecting relief convoys.”

Despite continuing Israeli meddling in the internal affairs, the police system is making every effort to control things, according to the statement. This includes preventing engineering starvation by preventing the delivery of aid.

A health crisis worsens

Hospitals in Gaza are still overburdened despite months of fighting and blockade. The besieged enclave is home to more than 16, 500 patients who require specialized care, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Nearly 4, 000 Palestinian evacuees had been enrolled in Egypt’s medical system by September, according to a recent United Nations update. Qatar received 970 patients, Qatar received 1, 450, and Turkiye received 437.

Italy treated 201 Palestinian patients in Europe, which is the highest number of states in Europe, but 3,800 children, among them, are still awaiting urgent medical evacuation abroad.

The human toll of Israel’s genocide in Gaza was highlighted by a study that was published this week in the Lancet medical journal. Since the start of the conflict in October 2023, according to the report, Gaza has lost more than a staggering three million years of human life.

Data from 60, 199 recorded deaths between October 2023 and July 2025 were analyzed by researchers Sammy Zahran of Colorado State University and Ghassan Abu Sittah of the American University of Beirut. According to their calculations, 51 years of life lost are on average lost, with the majority of those being civilians.

Children under the age of 15 lost more than one million of those life-years. According to the authors, the authors excluded deaths brought on by starvation, a lack of medical care, and the collapse of infrastructure during the siege of Israel.

Against the winter

Despite Israel’s restrictions on building materials, Gaza’s displaced families are frantically rebuilding any form of shelter as winter approaches, according to Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim Al Khalili, a resident of Gaza City.

Khalid al-Dahdouh, a father of five, has turned to traditional methods to build a small mud shelter for his family in Gaza’s largest urban center, which was the target of Israeli carpeting bombings from August to October this year.

Al-Dahdouh told Al Jazeera, “We tried to rebuild because winter is approaching.” We didn’t have tents or anything else, so we only managed to lay a few rows of bricks. Since there is no cement, we constructed a primitive structure out of mud. Contrary to tents, it shields us from the cold, insects, and rain, as you can see.

“We’re just trying to get through the cold and hunger,” he said. Gaza is still under attack, al-Dahdouh said, whether or not there is a ceasefire.

His relative, Saif al-Bayek, attempted a similar endeavor in his own honor, but they ran out of useful materials before the project was finished.

According to al-Bayek, “the entire neighborhood is in ruin.” Since there weren’t enough stones to build a full room, we used traditional methods to construct the shelter out of mud and salvaged them. Because of this, the roof has a lot of gaps and the structure is uneven; therefore, water will pass through the gap if it rains heavily.

“Reconstruction efforts face significant difficulties. Because there are no other options, many families are forced to rely on primitive building techniques, according to Alessandro Mrakic, the UN Development Programme representative in Gaza.

Aid organizations warn that the situation could continue to worsen as the temperature drops, with hundreds of thousands of people still displaced.