Confrontations between Indigenous Guard land defenders and FARC rebel dissidents are escalating, experts say.

Confrontations between Indigenous Guard land defenders and FARC rebel dissidents are escalating, experts say.

Rights groups and experts praise decision barring Colombian government from resuming glyphosate spraying of coca crops.

Colombian human rights ombudsman expresses ‘deep concern’ over violent escalation in eastern border area near Venezuela.
![Colombian soldiers patrol by boat on the Arauca River, at the border between Colombia and Venezuela, as seen from Arauquita, Colombia on March 28, 2021 [File: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2022-01-03T195349Z_429230201_RC2VRR9S7OSO_RTRMADP_3_COLOMBIA-REBELS.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Colombian rebel group’s delisting is an important step, experts say, but challenges to country’s fragile peace remain.
![Former FARC fighters join a protest demanding security guarantees and compliance with the peace agreement signed with the government, in Bogota, November 1, 2020 [File: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-11-01T224138Z_303763456_RC2MUJ9QPG7M_RTRMADP_3_COLOMBIA-PEACE-1-e1606229410237.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Amnesty International says over 100 people suffered eye injuries in security force crackdown on mass protests this year.
![Amnesty International said 103 protesters suffered eye injuries during the protests, including at least 12 who lost their eyes or some of their vision after being hit by police projectiles during rallies around the country. [File: Santiago Mesa/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-06-29T144932Z_784656369_RC2T9O9DJY3B_RTRMADP_3_COLOMBIA-PROTESTS.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
‘Almost turned back before I began’: US-bound migrants tell of dead bodies, hazardous terrain of Colombia-Panama border.
![Asylum seekers and refugees pass a figure of the Virgin Mary before boarding a boat that will take them to Acandi, a town in northern Colombia on the border with Panama [Steve Grattan/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Migrants-walk-beside-a-figure-of-a-Virgin-before-boarding-the-boar-that-will-take-them-to-Acandi-where-they-will-begin-their-hike-into-the-dangerous-Darien-Gap..jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Move risks escalating tensions, analysts say, as two countries gradually reopen shared border after years-long closure.
![A member of the Colombian military patrols an unofficial crossing between Colombia and Venezuela, as the two countries are gradually reopening their shared border [Nathalia Angarita/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-10-07T232429Z_849603595_RC215Q92I5R2_RTRMADP_3_COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA-BORDER.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Experts say rise in attacks likely after top commander of leftist ELN armed group died after Colombia military bombing.
![The National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia's largest remaining armed group, is believed to have some 2,300 active fighters [File: Federico Rios/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-09-02T110110Z_903002744_RC2HYY88RVHR_RTRMADP_3_VENEZUELA-CRIME-GUERRILLA.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Rural Colombians in illegal coca industry raise fears spraying with glyphosate will harm environment, residents’ health.
![Henri, a Colombian coca farmer, stands by a piece of fallen tarp at a makeshift laboratory near his coca patch in the country's Guaviare department [Steven Grattan/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Henri-a-coca-farmer-stands-by-a-piece-of-fallen-tarp-at-the-makeshift-laboratory-near-his-coca-patch.-He-does-not-make-cocaine-himself-instead-he-turns-the-coca-leaves-into-a-type-of-paste-at-this-wooden-labor.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Three quarters of the killings occurred in Latin America, Global Witness report says; Colombia has the most deaths.
![Activists gather around crosses in front of the Colombian Embassy in Brussels, Belgium bearing the names of the 64 environmental defenders murdered in Colombia in 2019 - 2020 was deadlier [File: Stephanie Lecocq/EPA-EFE]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/h_56844441.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)