Colombia’s president has issued a decree giving him emergency powers to restore order in a coca-growing region bordering Venezuela wracked in recent days by a deadly turf war among dissident rebel groups.

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has declared emergency powers to restore order in the coca-growing Catatumbo region amid escalating violence.

Francisco de Miranda, considered to be the precursor of Venezuela’s independence, stitched the country’s first flag in Jacmel and set sail from the port city. A decade later, South American liberator Simón Bolívar launched his successful movement from Jacmel’s shores.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Friday issued a decree that gives him emergency powers to respond to an outbreak of deadly violence between rival armed groups in the north-eastern Catatumbo region.