In response to President Gustavo Petro’s announcement to convene a National Constituent Assembly, the National Directorate of the National Liberation Army (ELN) expresses to the country:
Popular power is the essence of our new nation project. The people, with their history, experience, creativity and wisdom, have been on the path of changes that allow them to overcome the exclusion, misery, dispossession and repression imposed by the Colombian oligarchy for almost two hundred years; the armed uprising of the ELN is part of these struggles.
The ELN through the process of dialog and participation of society in the construction of Peace, we have committed ourselves to the changes announced by the government of the Historical Pact, with the demands and just demands of the Colombian people in strikes and social outbreaks. We understand the announcement of a National Constituent Assembly as an effort aimed at democratizing and building good living for all.
The constituent process must really summon the Colombian people, as an exercise of direct democracy, to the popular and democratic forces of the nation, breaking the obstacles that the reactionary forces have imposed on them to the changes. Faced with the refusal of the oligarchy and the ultra-right, which has conditioned the institutionality of the state and prevents transformations, the constituent process must be a great torrent of popular force, which from below makes reality that the people
It is about democratizing the political system, recovering the battered national sovereignty, guaranteeing access to fundamental rights for the entire population, dismantling the doctrine against insurgents, paramilitarism and allowing the care of water and mother earth, among other urgent and main tasks.
The process of participation of society in the construction of transformations for peace is intended to converge in an effort of this magnitude, to realize the structural changes that Colombia needs.
COLOMBIA… FOR WORKERS!
Not a Step Back… Liberation or Death!
National Directorate
Ejército de Liberación Nacional
The Mountains of Colombia
Marzo de 2024