Armed organizations threaten to participate in local elections that will be held in October in Colombia, in about a third of the municipalities, the Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, warned yesterday Monday.

“There are 113 municipalities at extreme risk” of violence ahead of the elections October 29th and another 284 are at “increased risk” due to “the presence of illegal armed organizations,” Mr. Camargo told a radio station in the Latin American country.

These 397 municipalities are exposed to violent actions during the election campaign ahead of the vote to nominate mayors, city councilors, prefects and deputies in 35% of the territory, he insisted.

He referred in particular to “grenade explosion” yesterday Sunday “inside the house of the parents of a candidate (for the office of mayor) in Tulua” (southwest), a city which is among those at “extreme risk”.

The attack had no victimsaccording to local authorities.

The advocate also stood in the counties of Antioquia (northwest), where “at least 15 candidates complain that they have received threats against their lives”, and Cauca (southwest), where 7 are facing the same situation.

The largest number of municipalities at risk are concentrated in the province of Narinio (south), which neighbors Ecuador, a conflict zone between armed organizations vying for control of the cocaine export routes to North America.

The Clan del Golfo cartel – the most powerful gang in Colombia – has a presence in 331 municipalities and is characterized as the main source of threats to the electoral process, always according to the Ombudsman’s office.

Next are dissidents from the former FARC (who reject the 2016 peace deal signed by the former Marxist rebel group), especially those known as the “Central General Staff” (EMC), with a presence in 234 municipalities; and the ELN ( National Liberation Army), which has been conducting peace negotiations with the government since November and is believed to be active in 231 municipalities.

All these armed organizations entered a process of “strengthening and expansion” after the 2016 agreement that disbanded the FARC, according to the Ombudsman.

Social Democrat President Gustavo Petro, elected in the summer of 2022, is the first from the left in Colombian history and has begun negotiations with rebel organizations and other armed groups (including the ELN and former FARC dissidents), however he does not consider so serious the situation. “It is not 300 municipalities that are threatened” but “17” and “we will be present”, he emphasized through X (the former Twitter), adding that elections will be held “in the entire territory” as “Colombian society has decided that it wants peace and he will achieve it”.

The right-wing opposition which is strongly critical of Mr. Petros’ policy, argues that the peace talks have increased insecurity.

Institutions and observers, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, express increasing concern about the “continued territorial expansion of armed organizations and their violent strategies for social control of civilian populations and grassroots organizations, despite the dialogue process that suggested” the government.