More than 80 people were killed in the country’s northeast over the weekend following the government’s failed attempts to hold peace talks with the National Liberation Army, a Colombian official said.

The unusually deadly violence delivers a devastating blow to the “total peace” program of the country’s first leftist president, Gustavo Petro.

At least 80 people were killed in northeast Colombia following failed attempts at peace talks with the National Liberation Army, a Colombian official said.

Twenty others were injured in the violence that has forced thousands to flee as Colombia's army scrambled to evacuate people on Sunday, according to the governor of North Santander, where many of the killings took place.