Puerto Asís is a town on the Putumayo River in southern Colombia, near the border with Ecuador. During Art Keller’s visit on an information-gathering mission for Plan Colombia, its riverbank and surrounding settlements make visible a landscape in which control changes from one bank, roadless town, and military compound to the next.

River and Contested Territory

Art arrives by helicopter from Cartagena and walks down to the river, a route lined by a rickety dock and long, narrow canoes used to move plantains and firewood where roads are scarce. His young military escort, Javier, hurries to bring him away from the bank. Across the water lies Puerto Vega, which FARC controls; the river is not simply a physical feature but a boundary between armed authorities.

Government forces hold Puerto Asís and the north bank around the town. Yet the map of control does not follow the river neatly: west of Puerto Asís, FARC also controls Puerto Caicedo, even though it lies on the north side. The town itself is described as AUC territory. These overlapping claims make the apparent safety of the government-held town provisional, defined by the nearby presence of competing armed groups.

Military Presence and Significance

Art and his party spend the night at a small army base north of town. After dinner, he slips away to look around. The compound is divided: most of it belongs to the Twenty-fourth Brigade, while a gate separates the main section from an area apparently reserved for AUC. The layout gives material form to the uneasy proximity between state troops and paramilitary forces.

Puerto Asís therefore serves as more than a point on Art’s itinerary. Its river crossing, neighboring settlements, and divided base show how local control in the region is fragmented rather than secured by a single line of authority. The town’s position in the account grounds the wider conflict in practical geography: transport follows the river, armed groups control nearby communities, and even a military installation contains distinct zones.