Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Tuesday that he would suspend peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a leftist insurgency that has been fighting the government since the 1960s.
The decision came after a terrorist attack by the group in Arauca on Tuesday.
Petro said: “A truck packed with explosives wounded 27 young soldiers and killed two. It was placed by the ELN (at a military base), with whom we were discussing peace. This is an action that ends a peace process in blood.”
Terrorist attack
On Wednesday, the Colombian National Army issued a statement explaining that one of their divisions, located in the northeastern town of Puerto Jordán, Arauca, had been bombed with improvised explosives thrown by a passing truck.
The army said seven soldiers were seriously injured and airlifted to the nearest medical facilities. Two of them, Julián Patiño Arango and Bayron Andrés Correa Vargas, have died due to the nature of their injuries.
Twenty-one other soldiers were injured and due to the proximity of the explosions to local schools, children’s lives were also put at risk, according to the army, which also said it “constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights and a serious offense for internationals. humanitarian law.”
According to the Army, two men were captured in connection with the attack, which was eventually attributed to the ELN.
“This clearly shows the true commitment of the National Liberation Army to peace. When we were waiting for a gesture that would allow us to continue the negotiations, which we had advanced with this illegal group, this is the answer they have given us”, declared Wednesday Iván Velásquez, Minister of Defense of Colombia.
Image Source: Ministry of Defense of Colombia via X
Later in the day Minister Velásquez also assured that military forces will now advance offensive operations against all illegal armed groups that are not going through a peace process. “The truce has been broken. The military forces have now designed various operations against all these groups and their efforts will be intensified,” he said.
Peace negotiations
Peace talks with Colombia’s various armed groups have fallen out of favor with different governments for decades, but Petro had made a campaign promise to achieve total peace with all armed groups during his term.
Despite its inability to secure concrete peace deals with both leftist rebels and drug-trafficking organizations, the country’s peace-brokering efforts have been recognized internationally for its work in conflict resolution and transitional justice, according to the Institute. for the Study and Development of Peace. (Independent).
In 2016, Colombia signed a peace agreement with what was then the country’s largest leftist guerrilla insurgency, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Since then, some fighters have rearmed and formed dissident factions.
Image source: Ideas for Peace Foundation via X
The ELN is currently Colombia’s oldest active Marxist insurgency and has been involved in peace talks with the government at various stages since their inception in 1964. They are very present in Colombia’s Pacific region as well as along the border with Venezuela and within the neighboring country.
While President Petro claimed in March 2021 that the ELN would demobilize “in three months” if he was elected, the negotiations have experienced three major moments of crisis and lasted over a year and a half.
The ELN violated the ceasefire it had agreed to with the government more than 200 times during the first year of negotiations, according to Indepaz, and talks had been stalled for several months before the latest attack in Arauca.
According to the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation (PARES), an NGO, two points led to the failure of the talks: the government would not recognize the ELN front “Comuneros del Sur” as an independent force, nor would it remove the ELN from its official list. of organized armed groups.
Since August 3, when the ceasefire was not renewed, various forms of violence have been recorded, including attacks on civilians, bombings and kidnappings, according to the foundation.
“During these months, the government has given different proposals to the ELN. “Today, any dialogue has been suspended and its sustainability severely weakened, as its continuation can only be recovered through a clear commitment to peace by the ELN,” the Peace Delegation of the Government of Colombia said on Wednesday.
What is ELN?
The ELN began as a left-wing nationalist movement in the 1960s, influenced by the Cuban Revolution, according to Indepaz. Initially, they sought to demand peasant rights and social justice, although the group became involved with drug trafficking and kidnapping as a way to finance its insurgency.
According to Insight Crime, a think tank that investigates organized crime in America, the ELN consists of more than 6,000 members, including militants who infiltrate the civilian population. And while in Colombia the ELN confronts the state through armed warfare and fighting other criminal groups, in Venezuela it acts as a paramilitary force supporting the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Although the ELN initially resisted becoming directly involved in drug trafficking, the development of the Colombian armed conflict, combined with the weakening of the guerrillas, led to various fronts engaging in the production of cocaine, according to the group of experts.
Some structures of the illegal group collect taxes from villagers and drug traffickers, while others are actively involved in international drug networks.
Currently, Eliécer Erlinto Chamorro, alias “Antonio García,” is the ringleader, accompanied by Israel Ramírez Pineda, alias “Pablo Beltrán,” the political commander and chief negotiator, according to Insight Crime.
