On the situation in Colombia after the wave of recent terrorist attacks

B100375/2025

European Parliament resolution on the situation in Colombia after the wave of recent terrorist attacks

(2025/2855(RSP))

The European Parliament,

–having regard to its previous human rights resolutions on Colombia,

–having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.whereas in 2025, Colombia has suffered a terrible wave of terrorist attacks; whereas, between May and June alone, the number of recorded attacks rose to 64, with dozens of people killed, injured and displaced;

B.whereas these terrorist acts have been perpetrated by the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), the Clan del Golfo, and other terrorist groups and criminal gangs linked to drug and human trafficking in Colombia;

C.whereas some of the bloodiest attacks of 2025 include those committed in the Catatumbo region (since January), a bomb in Cauca (11 March), a car bomb attack in front of a police station in Huila (17 April), an ambush killing seven soldiers in San José del Guaviare (27 April), a wave of bombings in Cauca and Valle del Cauca (10 June), a bomb in Antioquia (9 July), a bomb attack in Cali and an attack on a helicopter which brought it down in Antioquia (21 August), among many others;

D.whereas Gustavo Petro’s policy, since the beginning of his presidency in 2022, has only served to shield the main terrorist groups under his policy of total peace;

E.whereas under Petro’s presidency, drug cartels have greatly expanded their operations, not only in Colombia but also internationally; whereas, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in its recently released World Drug Report 2025, Colombia alone accounted for over 67 % of the world’s coca leaf crops in 2023, experiencing a 53 % increase in its cocaine production compared to 2022; whereas extortion, kidnapping, arms trafficking, human trafficking, illegal mining, smuggling and money laundering are some of the drug cartels’ main sources of income;

F.whereas under Petro’s presidency, Colombia has returned to its darkest and most violent period of the late 1980s and early 2000s, when political and civil leaders were assassinated at the hands of the FARC and other armed groups;

G.whereas the ultimate expression of Colombia’s current reality is the tragic death of Senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay on 11 August 2025, after being shot on the street during a campaign event;

H.whereas the family of Miguel Uribe Turbay has denounced the National Protection Unit, an entity attached to the Ministry of the Interior of the Petro government, for rejecting 23 requests in recent months to strengthen security measures for the leader of the opposition party;

I.whereas this assassination is not an isolated incident, but the result of the incendiary and violent leftist rhetoric that Petro and his government have promoted for years against all their political adversaries; whereas Petro has followed a general policy of terror and intimidation to try to prevent political alternation in the country;

J.whereas the assassination of Miguel Uribe is the ultimate and most recent proof of the failure of Petro’s total peace plan and of the so-called peace process as a whole, which began in Colombia in 2016; whereas the peace process was largely rejected by the Colombian people in a referendum;

K.whereas one of Petro’s main international allies is Nicolás Maduro, who remains illegitimately in power in Venezuela after committing electoral fraud in the last presidential elections; whereas Edmundo González Urrutia is the legitimate President of Venezuela, as recognised by previous resolutions of the European Parliament;

L.whereas the Cártel de los Soles is a drug cartel led by high-ranking military officials of the Venezuelan regime; whereas countries such as the United States, Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Peru have declared the Cártel de los Soles a terrorist organisation, and Nicolás Maduro as its supreme leader; whereas the United States Department of Justice is offering a reward of USD 50 million for information that leads to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, declaring him to be ‘one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world and a threat to the national security of the United States’;

M.whereas EU funding to Colombia, through the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe and regional programmes, exceeded EUR 180 million in the period 2021-2024 alone;

1.Strongly condemns the assassination of Miguel Uribe Turbay and urges the Government and judicial authorities of Colombia to identify the perpetrators so that they are brought to justice and face the full force of the law; expresses its full solidarity with the family of Miguel Uribe Turbay;

2.Deplores the strategic relationship of Gustavo Petro’s government with the illegitimate regime of Nicolás Maduro, head of the Cártel de los Soles; urges the EU and its Member States to declare the Cártel de los Soles a terrorist organisation;

3.Condemns all terrorist attacks perpetrated against politicians, soldiers and civilians in Colombia;

4.Firmly rejects the complicity that Petro’s government has maintained with terrorist groups under the pretext of the so-called peace process; calls on the authorities to act with all the necessary human, material and legal means to confront terrorist groups, drug cartels and all organised crime gangs that are sowing terror in Colombia;

5.Calls on the Commission to review all Global Europe and regional programmes currently in force or budgeted for Colombia, to ensure that European taxpayers’ money has not directly or indirectly financed individuals or institutions linked to terrorist activities and organised crime;

6.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the Organization of American States, and the Government of Colombia.