3.1.5. Coordinadora Nacional Ejército Bolivariano (CNEB)

Table of contents

3.1.5. Coordinadora Nacional Ejército Bolivariano (CNEB)

CNEB is a FARC dissident group that separated from Segunda Marquetalia in November 2024 to continue negotiations with the government.254 CNEB includes Comandos de la Frontera (CF) and Guerrilla Coordination Front for the Pacific (Coordinadora Guerrillera del Pacífico, CGP).255

CNEB has presence in the departments of Caquetá, Nariño, Putumayo, and Amazonas, and has about 2 000 members,256 or 3 000 according to Walter Mendoza, chief of the CNEB, cited by Semana.257 CNEB is made up of smaller groups that operate with autonomy according to the characteristics of the regions where they operate.258 It has local commanders in each municipality, and they establish alliances with other criminal groups to carry out their activities.259 In Putumayo, for example, local CNEB cells established alliances with other illegal armed groups and drug trafficking networks from Brazil and Peru.260

CNEB activities evolve around the drug trafficking business, seeking to expand their presence along corridors for the transit of drugs, particularly in Putumayo, Amazonas, and Guaviare.261 Activities include the control of illicit crops, administration of drug trafficking routes, extortion,262 illegal mining, and forced displacement.263 According to Pares, CNEB has penetrated into protected areas such as national parks where they carry out deforestation for the cultivation of illicit crops, and indigenous communities, where they impose social norms and coopt local organisations.264

According to Pares, CNEB carried out 88 violent acts, including threats, harassment and illegal checkpoints, against social leaders, human rights defenders, and environmentalists.265 Within the peace negotiations framework, an agreement was reached to handover for destruction 13.5 tons of war material in Nariño and Putumayo departments,266 but this is still pending.267 The first handover took place in the strategic municipality of Puerto Asís, Putumayo, on 15 October 2025.268

  • 254

    Pares, La paz ¿Cómo vamos?, 18 June 2025, url, p. 83; Colombia Reports, Colombia to create three guerrilla demobilization zones, 26 May 2025, url

  • 257

    Semana, Walter Mendoza, leader of five blocs of the FARC dissidents, assures that he will not sign peace with Petro: "The chief negotiator knows it." Exclusive, 11 October 2025, url

  • 258

    Pares, La paz ¿Cómo vamos?, 18 June 2025, url, p. 86

  • 259

    Pares, La paz ¿Cómo vamos?, 18 June 2025, url, p. 87

  • 263

    Pares, La paz ¿Cómo vamos?, 18 June 2025, url, p. 87

  • 264

    Pares, La paz ¿Cómo vamos?, 18 June 2025, url, p. 87

  • 265

    Pares, La paz ¿Cómo vamos?, 18 June 2025, url, p. 92

  • 266

    UNVMC, Report of the Secretary-General, 26 September 2025, url, para. 10; El Espectador, Terminó la destrucción de 14 toneladas de material de guerra de disidencia de Mendoza: ¿qué sigue?, 10 November 2025, url

  • 268

    Reuters, FARC dissidents hand over munitions to Colombia in peace gesture, 16 October 2025, url