Colombia’s ELN rebels protest suspension of peace talks with government
BOGOTA: Colombia’s ELN rebels said Wednesday they would launch a three-day armed protest starting this weekend against the suspension of peace talks with the government, halting traffic and daily activities in areas they control.
Tensions between the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos and the National Liberation Army have been on the rise since late January, when peace talks halted after the holdout guerrilla group killed seven police officers in a series of attacks.
The government retaliated on Feb 1 by bombing an ELN camp in northwestern Colombia, killing three guerrillas.
The ELN, which has some 1,800 fighters, announced via their social media outlets that the “armed strike” would run from Saturday to Tuesday, to protest “the government’s refusal” to continue peace talks in Quito, in neighbouring Ecuador.
The statement said that rebels operating in the Pacific region will block activities “on highways and rivers, as well as on sea and air routes.”
They urged passengers, and vehicle, boat and aircraft operators to “abstain from travelling.”
Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said the ELN’s threats against the government and civilians showed the rebels’ true colours.
“This, ultimately, shows the greatest of discrepancies given the purported will of the ELN to seek a peace deal” he said in a statement released by the president’s office.
The stalled talks and upsurge in violence threaten to reignite an armed conflict that had been on the path to peaceful resolution following a historic November 2016 peace deal with the FARC, Colombia’s much larger insurgent group.
The FARC has since disarmed and transformed itself into a political party, keeping the same acronym.
The ELN is especially strong in eastern Colombia, along the border with Venezuela, and in an impoverished jungle area in northwestern Colombia, experts say. — AFP