Gladys Marín only has to cross the street to reach a school where polling stations will open Sunday in her small town in Colombia. But she’s still not sure she’ll make the short walk, because fears for her safety could outweigh the chance to vote for the country’s next president.
Her home in the southwestern village of Potrerito sits less than 100 meters (320 feet) from the police station, which has become a frequent target for drone-dropped explosives. Authorities blame the attacks on a rebel faction that rejected a peace agreement signed a decade ago with the Colombian government.
“You have to stay alert to what is happening, because we live very close to the police station,” Marín said from her porch in this town about 470 kilometers from the capital, Bogotá.
Colombia will elect a new president and vice president on May 31 in what has been cast as a referendum on President Gustavo Petro’s policies, most notably his controversial “total peace” initiative to negotiate with the country’s remaining rebel groups.
By most accounts, violence tied to armed groups has worsened under Petro’s watch.
According to Colombia’s Electoral Observation Mission, 386 municipalities, or about a third of the country, are vulnerable to violence from illegal armed groups, and data from the Ideas for Peace Foundation think tank indicates that roughly 27,000 people remain under arms nationwide.
Drone attacks change the landscape of violence
In Robles, a neighboring town in the Jamundi municipality, the streets leading to the police station are blocked by improvised barricades. The police are entrenched in sentry posts, using shelters made of sandbags and black fabric to scan the sky for any approaching drones.
“You pass by the police station with this sense of dread, looking up, hoping you won’t run into a nasty surprise,” said Eucaris Zamora, who had to vacate her home after a cylinder bomb struck it in October, leaving the building partially destroyed.
Guillermo Londoño, a security official in the region of Valle del Cauca, where Jamundi is located, said illegal armed groups in the area have sought to maximize damage through simultaneous, “swarm-style” drone strikes, marking a shift from previous tactics, where attackers would launch attacks with a single drone, reload it, and then resume their assault.
Drones modified to drop explosives have altered the dynamics of Colombia’s armed conflict since 2024, posting one of the greatest threats to civilians and security forces alike, particularly along the Venezuelan border, in northern Bolivar province and in southwestern coastal areas.
Colombia’s Defense Ministry reported that drone attacks hit 333 targets in 2025, up from 61 such incidents recorded in 2024. Meanwhile, the army has recorded 107 drone attacks so far this year, which have claimed the lives of two soldiers.
The problem with Petro’s ‘total peace’ plan
Officials here believe their region has become a casualty of Petro’s “total peace” strategy, aimed at putting an end to one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.
Petro acknowledges that the initiative has failed to achieve its hoped-for outcome of disarming illegal networks, and his approach of being open to talk to every group has hardened up a notch. He has frozen negotiations with some groups due to their continuing violence, though he has kept dialogue open with other organizations.
A clear divide has emerged between candidates. On one side are those who favor continuing dialogue with illegal groups, such as Sen. Iván Cepeda, of Petro’s political movement. On the other are those who say they would dismantle such efforts and prioritize military pressure, such as Sen. Paloma Valencia, of the opposition Democratic Center, and Abelardo de la Espriella, a self-described admirer of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele who has vowed to crack down on illegal armed groups.
Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, believes the violence could worsen if a hawkish candidate is elected.
“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,” Dickinson said.
In December, gunmen sowed terror in the small southern town of Buenos Aires, launching an attack on the police station that left several officers injured and reduced a local bank and nearby homes to rubble.
Among the wreckage was the home of 89-year-old Celimo Enrique Aguilar.
“I haven’t lost faith that, someday, one might be able to live in peace,” he said.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america