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The ELN takes photos with minors and justifies its attacks on public forces

2023-04-03T18:13:00.554Z


The guerrillas published a statement defending last week's attack on a rural military base that left nine soldiers dead in the Catatumbo region. The Government insists that a bilateral ceasefire is required


The ELN does not allow the tone of total peace to be imposed.

Tension has continued between this left-wing guerrilla and the government of Gustavo Petro after the attack by the ELN on a rural army base in the early hours of last Wednesday, which left nine soldiers dead and eight wounded.

The event generated the immediate rejection of the president and government negotiators, who on Friday night demanded an emergency meeting with the guerrilla negotiators to seek a bilateral ceasefire.

That cessation, for now, does not come.

But some photos of guerrillas in the area of ​​the attack, the northeastern region of Colombia called Catatumbo, were published on Monday, sparking outrage among Colombians.

In one of the photos published this Monday, a patrol of ELN guerrillas can be seen in the town of Versalles in the municipality of Tibú, posing with six minors.

Involving minors in guerrilla events may constitute a violation of International Humanitarian Law.

Two months ago, widespread rejection was also generated when it became known that dissidents from the 36th front of the extinct FARC had danced with children in a rural school in Yarumal, north of Antioquia, when educational institutions are explicitly protected by IHL.

This Monday the mayor of Tibú, Nelson Leal López, confirmed to the newspaper El Tiempo that the guerrilla patrol that took photos with children was briefly in Versailles this weekend, "a quick presence, they stocked up on food and left again," explained.

He added that these patrols move through the territory due to the lack "of presence of State institutions."

He was not referring only to the Army, but to others such as the Ombudsman's Office or the Prosecutor's Office.

"We reject that presence [of the ELN], without a doubt," he clarified.

The Presidency has not ruled on the photos, although President Petro shared them when he was responding to Uribista opposition senator María Fernanda Cabal, who accused the president of "handing over the country to the ELN."

"You led the country to violence, we want to lead it to peace without ingenuity," Petro replied, prioritizing responding to the political fight over the humanitarian situation.

The government that you supported, Maria Fernanda, doubled the area controlled by the ELN and the Gulf clan and created the dissidents.

Now we correct the course.

You led the country to violence, we want to lead it to peace without ingenuity.

https://t.co/QcXbtHLDll

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) April 3, 2023

The ELN has not commented on the photo yet, but over the weekend it published a statement about the attack against the rural base of the Army.

His tone differs greatly from that of the government, which is struggling to achieve a ceasefire.

The guerrillas justified their actions based on their “right to defense”, even though the military group was not carrying out an offensive action but was guarding an oil pipeline.

The ELN's argument is that the Army has continued to attack its members this year, despite the fact that Petro declared a ceasefire in December—a move that went wrong, since this ceasefire had not been previously agreed upon at the dialogue.

The ELN not only says that they respond militarily because the "military forces maintain an offensive," but that the military does so "acting jointly with narco-paramilitary forces."

However, in the statement they insist that they maintain their willingness to "work and reach a bilateral ceasefire, their respective protocols, and oversight and verification mechanisms."

That would happen in the next cycle of negotiations, the third since the talks began, and which will take place in Havana (Cuba).

The exact date for this next cycle has not been set yet.

The ELN statement also ensures that Commander Pablo Beltrán, part of the dialogue table, does have the recognition of all the ELN structures.

This clarification occurs after, in another statement this weekend, the Western Front of that guerrilla, located mainly in the department of Chocó, stated "we do not view this peace process favorably and every day we have more questions and uncertainties ”.

On this last point, Senator Iván Cepeda, negotiator at the table for the government, told Caracol Radio that the suspicion of one of the fronts in the negotiations "had not appeared until now in the talks and should be the subject of a clarification” by the ELN.

"Because it is not normal for one of the groups, or of the war fronts, to announce that it is distancing itself from these dialogues," added Cepeda.

The leftist senator insisted that in the third cycle of talks they hope to reach a bilateral ceasefire with the ELN guerrillas.

"If that does not materialize, we will judge [what to do] about that situation, because it is difficult to advance dialogues without being able to establish the conditions that will give credibility and confidence before the country," Cepeda said.

"Thus, it is difficult to maintain a process of talks," he concluded.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-04-03

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