During the election campaign, President Gustavo Petro had promised to put an end to the ELN in three months. Photo: Federico Parra – AFP.
By: Red+ News Writing
March 29, 2023 11:40 am
On March 15, 2021, Semana magazine asked then-presidential candidate Gustavo Petro what he would do with the ELN if he became president of Colombia?, to which he replied: “the ELN ends three months after his presidencybecause the government makes peace”.
However, the peace process that is being carried out with this guerrilla group and with the accompaniment of the international community has been interrupted by its continuity act violently in different regions of the country.
A clear example is the terrorist attack with explosives perpetrated this Wednesday by this guerrilla against the Special Energy and Road Battalion No. 10 in El Carmen, Catatumbo, in Norte de Santander, where they died seven soldiers and two non-commissioned officersand apparently eight uniformed men were injured.
And while the governments of Cuba and Mexico have engaged in negotiations with the ELN, the country has seen several Attacks by guerrilla groups against oil infrastructure, kidnappings and attacks on public forces in the seven months that Gustavo Petro has been President.
However, this is not the first attempt at peace with the ELN as the illegal group has been negotiating with five governments, and none have paid off.
The last attempt at negotiations was with Petro’s predecessor, former President Iván Duque (2018-2022), who then ended the negotiations Attack on the General Santander Police Cadet School In 2019 there were 23 deaths, including the attacker.
In addition, the guerrillas were historically recognized for existence reluctant to cease operations as a sign of his desire for peace; In fact, in February, Petro described the detention of a sergeant in Arauca department as “sabotaging” the talks.
With information from AFP.