More than 32,000 people have fled to towns in northeast Colombia as they attempt to escape a sharp rise in fighting between militant factions, according to the country’s Ombudsman Iris Marín.

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

Colombia on Wednesday reinstated arrest warrants for dozens of guerrilla commanders blamed for armed attacks that displaced 32,000 people and sparked the country's most serious security crisis in years.

Over 80 people have died and tens of thousands have been displaced in escalating violence between armed groups as the border city of Cucuta scrambled Wednesday to cope with thousands of civilians fleeing the violence.