Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday announced an upcoming consultation on continuing or suspending negotiations with the ELN, after nine soldiers were killed in an attack attributed to those guerrillas that same morning.
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“We have been informed of the deaths of nine of our soldiers” in El Carmen, in the department of Norte de Santander (northeast), the army said in a press release, attributing this attack to the National Liberation Army (ELN). They are the last remaining guerrillas in Colombia, with whom the government began peace talks in November after a four-year hiatus to try to end nearly six decades of armed conflict.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro expressed his “complete rejection of the attack by the army train in Catatumbo”. “Seven soldiers on military service and two non-commissioned officers, soldiers of the nation and government, killed by those who are absolutely far from peace and people today,” Mr Petro wrote on Twitter.
He added that he had “requested a consultation with the government delegation at the negotiating table with the ELN”. “A peace process must be serious and responsible with Colombian society,” he stressed.
The head of state has scheduled this meeting for next Monday in the presence of representatives of the guarantee countries and the countries accompanying these negotiations.
“During this meeting, the decisions to be taken will be evaluated,” said the press service of the presidency. This call for consultations “does not imply a freeze in talks nor a decision by the government to leave the negotiating table,” according to the same source.
A first round of negotiations ended in Caracas in December with the announcement of the release of hostages and humanitarian action. At the end of a second round in Mexico on March 10, both parties pledged to start talks towards a ceasefire. A third cycle, this time in Cuba, has been announced without the date being known.
Presidential peace adviser Danilo Rueda, head of the peace negotiations initiated with the armed groups, did not rule out the possibility of the negotiations being suspended, speaking of an “internal decision made by everyone, decisions made in the interests of the country “.
Questioned by the press, Mr. Rueda judged that the ELN was trying to “evade peace-building in Colombia”.
The attack took place at dawn in the municipality of El Carmen, during a classic security operation and not an offensive action, the army explained, stressing that the attackers were members of the Camilo Torres Front.
The unit guarded the Cano Limon-Coveas oil pipeline, the country’s most important and a recurring target for the ELN when under attack from IEDs and automatic weapon fire.
The head of the army, General Luis Ospina, went there. Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez “condemned this attack against the government’s expressed desire for peace” and spoke of a “really very serious event”.
The commander of the armed forces, General Helder Giraldo, assured his men would “continue military operations in the region against those responsible” for the attack.
The head of the government delegation to the negotiations, Otty Patino, considered that “this criminal and stupid act” cast “doubts on the unity of the guerrilla command”.
During the negotiations, the Colombian government granted the ELN “rebellious armed political organization” status, a gesture welcomed by these guerrillas as essential to the continuation of the peace process.
Since the beginning of the year, however, violence and tensions have cooled relations between the two parties. Nine suspected ELN members were killed in an offensive by the Colombian army in late January.
Colombia wants to reach peace with the ELN, as in the negotiations that led to the demobilization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016, which for years were the main guerrillas in Colombia.