Arauca state governor Renzon Jesús Martínez was attacked on Monday morning. His truck was hit by several shots on the highway between Fortres and Tame. The area is close to the border with Venezuela and has a strong presence of National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas and the defunct FARC rebel group. Both the department leader and his security plan were unharmed.
“The truck reacted very well, thank God,” Martinez said after arriving at the Tame police station, after narrating the incident in a telephone conversation broadcast in a video published on social networks. But the politician who was elected in 2023, breaking both the Urivista opposition and the ruling historical pact, declared that the armed group had almost breached the vehicle’s protection: “I believe that if they fire one more shot, they will kill the driver.”
Interior Minister Armando Benedetti condemned the attack. “This is an attack on institutions, democracy, and all citizens who expect governance and security,” he said, adding that the National Federation of Ministries called on the central government to “expedite” related investigations and strengthen local government security.
The attack occurred just hours after five soldiers were kidnapped on the route between Tame and the provincial capital. “The soldiers were reportedly traveling in civilian clothes on public transportation when they were allegedly intercepted by armed men,” the Army’s 8th Division said in a statement on Sunday. The department of Arauca issued a statement on Monday morning condemning the kidnapping and demanding that those responsible “urgently activate” humanitarian channels to free the soldiers. Just a few minutes later, he published another message to X confirming the attack on the governor.
In late October, the Office of the Ombudsman warned that conflicts between the ELN and the defunct FARC rebel group, the New Central Staff, were worsening in seven Arauca municipalities and Kubala in Boyaca department. According to Early Warning 014 of 2025, they “seek to consolidate their hegemony” in the region and challenge economies associated with drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human trafficking, and fuel smuggling. Similarly, human rights groups say there are strong internal divisions between the two organizations, which “would have motivated the execution of some commanders and the killing of members of militias and bases.”
Attacks and kidnappings of soldiers create another alarming situation in neighboring Boyaca department. On Saturday, authorities quelled a truck bomb attack on the Tunja military base. Although no one was killed or injured, the controlled explosion of the device caused fear and some damage among the approximately 200,000 residents.
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