Colombia: ELN Guerrillas Refuse to Submit or Surrender

An ELN poster in Catatumbo, Colombia, Jan. 2025. X/ @WRadioColombia


January 27, 2025 Hour: 12:21 pm

President Petro’s ‘Total Peace’ policy has granted paramilitary bands a certain ‘political status,’ the ELN says.

On Monday, the National Liberation Army (ELN) reaffirmed that it will neither submit nor surrender during peace negotiations proposed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

RELATED:

Defense Ministers of Venezuela and Colombia Meet To Discuss Border Situation in Catatumbo

“The ELN will never accept submission or surrender as a peace policy. Petro’s ‘Total Peace’ policy has granted criminal groups and paramilitary bands a certain ‘political status’ to engage in coordination efforts with the State and its armed forces,” stated the ELN Central Command. These remarks came after President Petro suspended peace talks due to violence perpetrated by the ELN in the Catatumbo region.

Over the past 11 days, clashes between the ELN and the 33rd Front of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have left around 80 people dead, according to reports from the Office of the Ombudsman and the Government of Norte de Santander.

So far authorities have only been able to recover 41 bodies due to ongoing challenges in accessing remote rural areas where violence persists. Among the fatalities are six signatories of the peace agreement. Additionally, 12 former FARC combatants, whom the ELN accuses of being active members of the 33rd Front, remain missing.

The text reads, “Are the Armed Forces prepared to resume the war against the ELN? Researchers, experts and a retired general agree that the public forces are not going through their best moment.”

The ELN Central Command stated that it has not carried out actions against civilians or individuals merely because they are “peace signatories.” Instead, it has targeted those who are armed and “actively under military command in operations against the ELN and the communities of Catatumbo.”

Last week, Petro asserted that the ELN had reinforced its presence in Catatumbo with guerrilla fighters relocated from the department of Arauca. He also questioned why military and police authorities lacked “any information” about such a significant mobilization. However, on Monday, the guerrilla group claimed that “so far, no command or combatants have been relocated from Arauca to Catatumbo.”

“It hasn’t been necessary… but the ELN troops operate nationally, and the Central Command has the mandate and authority to make such moves,” the ELN stated, adding that state forces distort the truth to discredit the guerrillas.

teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE