TRES BOCAS, Colombia — The Colombian border village of Tres Bocas has become a ghost town as residents flee to neighboring Venezuela to escape a new wave of violence in Colombia’s Catatumbo region that has left at least 80 people dead and displaced thousands.

According to the United Nations, more than 18,000 people have fled the northeastern region as fighting between the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and a rival group known as the FARC-EMC intensifies. Of those who had fled, about 1,000 have sought shelter in Venezuela.

“Many of them are afraid of the firefights that have broken out” in rural areas, said Jaime Botero, president of a community association in the town of Tibu, which is about 6 miles to the west of Tres Bocas. Located on Colombia’s border with Venezuela, the Catatumbo region has around 300,000 residents and produces 15% of Colombia’s coca crop. The FARC-EMC and the ELN have long battled for control of the region and its lucrative drug trafficking routes, but had recently held a truce.

— The Associated Press