Internal Divisions Hamper Peace Overtures From Colombia’s ELN

Internal Divisions Hamper Peace Overtures From Colombia’s ELN
Commander Israel Ramirez Pineda of the Colombian National Liberation Army, also known by the alias Pablo Beltran, during an interview at a hotel in Havana, Cuba, Feb. 12, 2021 (AP photo by Ramon Espinosa).

BOGOTA, Colombia—They have become known as the country’s “last guerrillas,” and their insurgency, one of the longest-running in the world, is often called Colombia’s “other war.” This month, The National Liberation Army, widely known by its Spanish initials ELN, vowed to take reprisals after government forces killed one of its top commanders, prompting security alerts and the deployment of Colombian troops to protect potential targets in the country’s major cities.

Ogli Angel Padilla Romero, better known by his alias, Fabian, died in a hospital in the western city of Cali after being injured in a military air raid that targeted the ELN’s Western Front, near Colombia’s Pacific coast in the dense jungles of the Choco region. The leftist group said it would “disproportionately use force and explosives” in response to the attack. 

“As the supreme commander of the armed forces … I want to tell you that we will never give in to any threat from armed groups,” President Ivan Duque defiantly replied in recent public remarks. “We are fighting them and we will continue to fight them with all our determination.” 

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