Colombia Spirals Toward ‘Failed State’ Under Exploding Cartel Violence: Experts

The ’total peace' initiative appears to have backfired, although for now cartels and splinter groups are more focused on fighting each other than the state.

A police officer stands guard next to debris of a toll station attacked with explosives in Villa del Rosario, Norte de Santander province, Colombia, on February 20, 2025. Four bomb attacks, including one with a car bomb, were carried out in two Colombian cities bordering Venezuela, possibly by ELN guerrillas, officials said. Schneyder Mendoza/AFP via Getty Images

Drug cartels are tightening their grip on Colombia amid failed peace initiatives, economic stagnation, and forced recruitment into terrorist groups, experts say.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” initiative aimed to enforce a 2016 peace accord struck between the former Santos administration and the decades-old terrorist group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).