President Gustavo Petro has announced a new round of peace talks to take place with Colombia’s largest narcotrafficking organisation, the Clan del Golfo.
The government has been engaged in sporadic peace talks with Clan del Golfo since 2023, as well as a secret round of talks in Doha last February.
These negotiations are being conducted in the context of the Paz Total framework championed by the Petro Administration. Paz Total is intended to build on the 2016 peace deal with FARC to deliver reduced violence and increased security by reaching negotiated settlements
After three years of work, no concrete results have come. Negotiations have stopped and started with Clan del Golfo and the ELN with no real progress.
Critics of Paz Total claim that the policy has allowed criminal groups the grace to operate more freely. Conflict between the ELN, Clan del Golfo, and FARC dissident factions in Catatumbo and Bajo Cauca is stark evidence for this position. As is
The voices that oppose the president and his security policies have grown stronger in the aftermath of the assassination of presidential pre-candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay. Petro and his allies may be hoping that something will come of a new round of negotiations that can bolster his position in advance of the 2026 elections.
Talks last year between Clan del Golfo took place in Colombia, and previous peace negotiations with other groups have been held in other Latin American countries. So, the decision to host these talks in Qatar is unusual.
This is partly due to questions of security: “For a year now, there has been a police and military offensive that not only involves all the country’s forces, but also international actors combating the economic dynamics that this armed group mobilizes,” Colombia’s chief negotiator Álvaro Jiménez commented.
This may also partly be an attempt to recognise the global nature of narcotrafficking. Petro is focused on his idea that there is a “Dubai Office” that is behind the Turbay attack and other criminal activity in Colombia.
Hosting negotiations in the Middle East might be an attempt to underline this argument, which services him politically. The idea that crime in Colombia is orchestrated from abroad distracts from worsening criminality under his tenure and provides a simple explanation for the Turbay attack.
But there isn’t much evidence for the idea beyond the Petro’s own statements, according to Police Director General Carlos Fernando Triana.
The legal representative of the Clan del Golfo, Ricardo Giraldo, has also denied any link between the group and the UAE. He said “the so-called Dubai office, the drug trafficking office, the drug trafficking junta, does not exist….Those who have been to Dubai or Qatar know that these kinds of meetings or gatherings are almost impossible. Surveillance there is extreme, with security cameras every 25 meters and very strong intelligence agencies.”
Everyone has political motivations to either deny or advocate for the existence of this group, but the reality is there is no hard, publicly available evidence.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/26/colombia-violence-juan-manuel-santos
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