Colombia’s new far‑right administration has abandoned Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan and launched an all‑out war against guerrilla and paramilitary groups, a shift that has brought unmanned drones to the forefront of the conflict. Since De la Espriella’s inauguration on 7 August, security forces and armed groups have increasingly turned to aerial technology, using it for strikes, surveillance and intimidation.
According to ACLED data, the first three weeks of the new government saw about 30 drone attacks on security forces, mainly in Cauca and Norte de Santander – a number that is four times higher than the previous three‑week period. Colombia now hosts 97 of the 182 municipalities where weaponised drone incidents have been recorded, and the number of drone events rose from a single incident in 2023 to roughly 150 in 2025 and nearly 200 so far in 2026.
The drones have had a profound effect on civilians living along the country’s main cocaine‑trafficking corridors. Reports from Tiziano Breda, a Latin America conflict expert at ACLED, describe the psychological trauma caused by the constant buzzing of drones, even when they do not strike directly. Strikes have occasionally hit nearby homes, and unexploded drones are ending up in the hands of local communities, sometimes even children.
The war is forcing militias to adapt, blending more closely with local populations and using drones for both offensive operations and surveillance of rival groups. This integration makes them harder to locate and increases the risk of collateral damage to civilians.
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