ELN Clash Leaves One Dead in Táchira, Venezuela

Venezuela · Border Security

A firefight between Venezuela’s National Guard and ELN guerrillas in the border town of Junín has left one dead and at least five injured — the first such clash since Colombia’s new hard-line president took office, and a sign that the porous frontier is heating up.

What Happened in Junín

The clash occurred on Monday, 29 September, in Junín, a locality in Venezuela’s western state of Táchira, close to the Colombian border. Members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) exchanged fire with presumed members of the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia’s largest remaining guerrilla group.

“We are hearing of five injured and one dead,” Javier Tarazona, director of the Venezuelan human-rights NGO Fundaredes, told AFP. The injured were moved from Junín to the nearby city of Rubio, also in Táchira, where they were treated at a local clinic.

Venezuelan outlet El Nacional identified the dead man as a National Guard member, Andry Giovanni Vela Álvarez. Neither the Venezuelan government nor the GNB had issued an official statement on the incident as of Wednesday, and Colombian authorities had not commented either.

Tarazona is a longstanding and credible witness to border violence: he spent five years in prison after denouncing, among other things, guerrilla movements in the zone. Fundaredes has documented the expansion of Colombian armed groups inside Venezuela for years.

Why the Clash Matters Now

According to AFP’s reporting, the firefight is the first between Venezuelan security forces and the ELN since Abelardo de la Espriella, Colombia’s right-wing president, came to power on 7 August. For years under Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan forces largely tolerated, and at times, watchdogs say, abetted, ELN activity on their side of the frontier.

Tarazona told AFP the situation in the region has changed since Maduro’s capture by the United States military in January and, above all, since De la Espriella’s arrival in August. The new Colombian president has made the ELN a declared military target, ending peace talks and opening an offensive in the Catatumbo region that began with an airstrike days after his inauguration.

A direct ELN–GNB firefight on Venezuelan soil would mark a break with that old modus vivendi. Whether it signals a lasting shift in Caracas’s posture, pressure, cooperation with Bogotá, or a localised dispute over territory and contraband routes, is the question analysts will watch in the coming days.

A Border Under Scrutiny

The clash lands in the same week that Colombian intelligence, according to El Tiempo, mapped 93 clandestine airstrips used by the ELN inside Venezuela — up from about 15 points tracked at the start of the year. The same reporting linked the group’s Northeastern War Front, associated with commander Luz Amanda Payares, alias Silvana Guerrero, to positions in Zulia and Táchira, the state where Monday’s clash took place.

Washington has also tightened its posture. On 29 September the US State Department told its citizens not to travel to Norte de Santander, the Colombian department facing Táchira, or to within ten kilometres of the Venezuelan border, citing the risk of drone and explosive attacks by armed groups. The ELN, classed by Washington as a terrorist organisation, fields an estimated 6,450 members according to Colombia’s Fundación Ideas para la Paz.

The roughly 2,200-kilometre border has long been porous ground where guerrillas, dissidents, traffickers and smugglers overlap. Junín sits in a corridor where control of crossings and contraband routes has triggered violence before; Monday’s toll is a reminder that the frontier’s armed ecology is being reshaped by new governments on both sides.

What We Could Not Confirm

The identity of the dead man comes from a Venezuelan media report and has not been officially confirmed; the exact casualty count rests on Fundaredes’ account to AFP. Some regional reports mentioned captures during the incident, but no authority has confirmed any detention. We could not confirm what triggered the firefight, which ELN front was involved, or whether the clash is connected to the newly mapped airstrips. No official statement from Caracas or Bogotá had been issued at the time of publication.

More: Venezuela news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened in Junín, Venezuela?

On Monday, 29 September, Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard clashed with presumed ELN guerrillas in Junín, Táchira state, near the Colombian border. The NGO Fundaredes told AFP one person was killed and at least five injured; the wounded were treated in nearby Rubio.

Why is Colombia’s ELN active inside Venezuela?

The ELN, Colombia’s largest remaining guerrilla group with an estimated 6,450 members, has operated for years along the porous 2,200-kilometre border. Colombian intelligence says it has mapped 93 clandestine ELN airstrips inside Venezuela, up from about 15 at the start of the year.

Is the Colombia–Venezuela border region safe to visit?

No, according to the US State Department, which on 29 September warned citizens against all travel to Norte de Santander and to within ten kilometres of the Venezuelan border, citing drone and explosive attacks by armed groups. Monday’s deadly clash in Táchira underlines that assessment.

Why does the Venezuela ELN border clash matter?

It is the first confrontation between Venezuelan security forces and the ELN since Colombia’s right-wing president Abelardo de la Espriella took office in August. Colombian intelligence has mapped 93 clandestine ELN airstrips inside Venezuela.

Connected Coverage

The ELN on the border — our related reporting:

Clandestine Airstrips: Colombian Intelligence Maps 93 ELN Runways Inside Venezuela

Colombia’s First Airstrike Under De la Espriella Hits the ELN in Catatumbo