At least nine soldiers were killed in a rebel attack in northeast Colombia on Wednesday. March 29. The attack is believed to have been carried out by suspected members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) at a military base in the department of Northern Santander.
ELN Statement on the Action:
Dialogues Are Between Two Parties
This is he latter is confirmed, once again, in the events of January 28 of this year in the rural area of Buenaventura, when 7 guerrillas of the Southwestern War Front were captured and executed while unarmed and in a state of defenselessness, something similar occurred on the same date in Mina Nueva, municipality of Remedios, Antioquia, when the First Commander of the José Antonio Galán Front, Luis Gabriel Zea Bernal, was killed hors de combat and also in a state of defenselessness.
These facts were presented by our Delegation of Dialogues at the Table of Conversations in the Second Cycle, held in Mexico City, in the face of which the media, the authorities and the Government itself maintain total silence. It is the prolongation of the impunity of the terrorist actions of the State Armed Forces.
While the Table and the new dialogue process have been active since the end of last year, the Armed Forces maintain an offensive against the ELN in different territories, with the aggravating factor that today, as in the past, they continue sponsoring, promoting and acting jointly with narco-paramilitary forces.
There is a reality, the dialogue process is still developing in the midst of the conflict, a bilateral ceasefire has not yet been agreed, although we are already working with the government to achieve it, there are actions on both sides, not only those of the ELN, even if the mainstream press, the military and the government show, scandalize and demonize our part. As a contending force, as long as there is no ceasefire and we continue to be attacked, we have the right to defend ourselves and to act in response.
Regarding the military action of Wednesday, March 29 carried out by the ELN in Guamalito, Norte de Santander, we know the pain caused by the actions of war between the contending forces because we have felt them in our own flesh; precisely for this reason, we are working once again to build a peace agreement that removes violence from politics and promotes changes towards a country with sovereignty, with the participation of the majorities and with social justice.
We reiterate our willingness and disposition to work and reach a bilateral ceasefire, its respective protocols and the mechanisms for monitoring and verification; with this we seek to advance in the dialogues and create a climate of guarantees for the participation of society, in the examination of the realities of the country and in the formulation of the basic transformations to enable a climate of peace.
We call on the government of President Petro, the popular, progressive and democratic forces and the entire country to join efforts towards peace, change and a new country. To not allow the same old people to continue to rule.