Tibú is a municipality and town of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

located in the department of Norte de Santander, in the northeast of the country, on the border with Venezuela and on the banks of the

Tibú River Tibú is a municipality and town of Colombia located in the department of Norte de Santander, in the northeast of the country, on the border with Venezuela and on the banks of the Tibú River. It is the 160th most populated town of Colombia, and t ...

. It is the 160th most populated town of Colombia, and the 6th in the department after Cúcuta, Ocaña, Villa del Rosario, Los Patios and Pamplona. It has an airport, and is connected by national road with Cúcuta, Ocaña and

El Tarra El Tarra is a Colombian municipality and town located in the department of Norte de Santander North Santander (Spanish: Norte de Santander) () is a department of Northeastern Colombia. It is in the north of the country, bordering Venezuela. ...

History

The area of present-day Tibú was originally inhabited by the

Barí people The Barí, sometimes also called Motilon-Bari, are an indigenous people who live in the Catatumbo River basin in Norte de Santander Department in Colombia in South America and who speak the Barí language. They are descendants of the Tairona cu ...

. Oil companies established a camp when they first arrived in the area in 1945. On March 8, 1945, the

Council of Cúcuta A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or na ...

approved the creation of the corregimiento of Tibu. The Catholic Church also established the San Luis Beltran Mission and later on May 25, 1952, established the parish. The church greatly contributed to the development of the village by designing the first streets and distributing lots for the first houses and the cathedral. It was erected municipality later on January 1, 1977, in the midst of the jungle of the Catatumbo Region an almost human inhospitable land between Colombian and Venezuela. The town and municipalities were severely hit by the

Colombian Civil War (1960s–present) The Colombian conflict ( es, link=no, Conflicto armado interno de Colombia) began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and far-left guerril ...

. The area has been a constant dispute between government forces, the guerrillas of the FARC and ELN and

paramilitary groups A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

. On June 16, 1996 AUC members perpetrated the Gabarra Massacre while struggling for control of the area with insurgents.

Geography

The municipality of Tibú borders to the east with the

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, to the south with the municipalities of Cúcuta and Sardinata, to the west with

and San Calixto and to the northwest with Teorama.

References

External links

Tibú official website
Municipalities of the Norte de Santander Department {{NortedeSantander-geo-stub