Civilians in Colombia face escalating violence, with drone attacks terrorizing communities as the nation prepares to vote for a new president and vice president on May 31, 2026. Gladys Marín, a resident of Potrerito, expressed uncertainty about walking to polling stations, noting her home sits less than 100 meters from a police station frequently targeted by drone-dropped explosives. Eucaris Zamora of Robles had to vacate her home 7 months ago after a cylinder bomb partially destroyed it, stating, “You pass by the police station with this sense of dread, looking up, hoping you won’t run into a nasty surprise.”
The upcoming election is framed as a referendum on President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” initiative, a policy aimed at negotiating with remaining rebel groups. However, violence tied to illegal armed groups has reportedly worsened under Petro’s administration. Colombia’s Electoral Observation Mission reports that 386 municipalities, approximately a third of the country, are vulnerable to such violence. Data from the Ideas for Peace Foundation indicates that roughly 27,000 people remain under arms nationwide.
Who Pays the Price
The human cost of this ongoing conflict is borne by the working class and the dispossessed. In Buenos Aires, 89-year-old Celimo Enrique Aguilar saw his home reduced to rubble 5 months ago during an attack on a police station that also damaged a local bank. Aguilar stated, “I haven’t lost faith that, someday, one might be able to live in peace.” Streets in Robles, a neighboring town in Jamundi municipality, are blocked by improvised barricades, with police entrenched in sandbag shelters, scanning the sky for drones.
Drone attacks, modified to drop explosives, have fundamentally altered the dynamics of Colombia’s armed conflict since 2024, marking the third year of this intensified threat. These attacks pose a significant danger to both civilians and security forces, particularly along the Venezuelan border, in northern Bolivar province, and in southwestern coastal areas. Colombia’s Defense Ministry reported 333 drone attacks in 2025, a sharp increase from 61 incidents recorded in 2024. So far in 2026, the army has recorded 107 drone attacks, which have claimed the lives of two soldiers. Guillermo Londoño, a security official in Valle del Cauca, noted that illegal armed groups now employ “swarm-style” drone strikes to maximize damage, a shift from previous single-drone tactics.
The State's Role and Its Limits
President Petro has acknowledged that his “total peace” initiative has failed to achieve its intended outcome of disarming illegal networks. His approach, initially open to dialogue with all groups, has hardened, leading to frozen negotiations with some groups due to continued violence, while dialogue remains open with others. This state-led reform effort has demonstrably failed to secure peace for the populace.
A clear divide has emerged among presidential candidates regarding the state’s strategy. Sen. Iván Cepeda, aligned with Petro’s political movement, advocates for continuing dialogue with illegal groups. In contrast, Sen. Paloma Valencia of the opposition Democratic Center, and Abelardo de la Espriella, who admires Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, propose dismantling peace efforts and prioritizing military pressure. Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, warned that “Right-wing candidates propose a ‘hard-line’ response that could exacerbate the violence, because the armed groups will respond to pressure from security forces with terror-style attacks, as they lack the means to respond symmetrically, army-to-army.” This expert assessment highlights the inherent limitations of state-centric solutions that fail to address the root causes of conflict.
The current violence is attributed by authorities to a rebel faction that rejected a peace agreement signed a decade ago with the Colombian government. Dissidents of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were seen near the damaged Banco Agrario branch in Buenos Aires 5 months after the attack. The ongoing conflict, managed by various state policies, continues to extract a heavy toll from the working people of Colombia, while the underlying structural contradictions remain unaddressed.