Antonio García, leader of the ELN, intimidates María Alejandra Villamizar for a column in EL PAÍS

Antonio García, first commander of the ELN, during a press conference at the Aquiles Nazoa Cultural House in Caracas, Venezuela, on October 4, 2022.Ariana Cubillos (AP)

The tribune of the journalist María Alejandra Villamizar last Thursday in EL PAÍS has touched a sensitive chord in the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The guerrilla leader, Antonio García, responded to the opinion piece on Tuesday with an intimidating message: “María Alejandra Villamizar says that 'nobody is eternal in the world', referring to the ELN.

She replied with the same song by her favorite singer, Darío Gómez: "You will suffer, you will cry while you get used to losing, then you will resign yourself when you no longer see me."

The communicator had criticized the "arrogance" of the armed group in the peace negotiations.

The article that annoyed the ELN is entitled

and demands that the government of Gustavo Petro extend a generous offer to the guerrillas so that they "understand" that the time has come to lay down their arms.

He criticizes the revolutionary rhetoric of a "nonsense" army, obstinate in maintaining its fight.

Likewise, he affirms that the Colombian population now only recognizes the fear they generate and blames the armed group for the arrogance with which they still manage: "They convinced themselves that their revolutionary mystique should be respected as a religion and their guerrillas be seen as prophets.

Grandstand |

"Society's offer for peace is still valid, the State tries to compensate its enormous little things to comply with the agreements," writes María Alejandra Villamizar (@MariaAlejaVM) https://t.co/93rbBnjteW

— EL PAÍS America Colombia (@ElPaisAmericaCo) March 31, 2023

Villamizar cites the name of the song

, by the Antioquia artist Darío Gómez, to demand that the ELN stop obstructing the peace process.

“60 years of trying is an eternity,” he tells them.

So many years of war have shown, according to the journalist, that violence leads nowhere: “[After a peace offer] there will still be inequality and discrimination, and classism and poverty and anachronism.

But it is not the bombings or the bullets that will manage to change this”.

Negotiations between the Executive and the ELN are not at their best.

Last week, an attack by the guerrilla group on an Army base in Catatumbo left seven soldiers dead.

It was the result of months of hardship.

On the one hand, a president who unilaterally announced on December 31 that both parties had agreed to an armistice that the ELN ignored three days later.

On the other, a guerrilla that is territorially fragmented and has shown fewer restrictions to participate in illegal economies.

Antonio García responded to Villamizar on Tuesday that the ELN has also suffered the attacks of the Government.

“The pain [sic] hurts the same on both sides, that's why we must respect each other.

As combatants, the military has beaten us in recent months, and we have beaten them...so 'pusto y pisto' is not a fight,' he declared.

The journalist, for her part, has replied on Twitter to the intimidation.

“I tell Antonio García that yes, [that] I hope I don't see him in arms again.

Peace awaits you."

Likewise, she invited the ELN to a debate on the content of the article and asked the users of the social network to read the text in EL PAÍS to understand the allusion to the song by Darío Gómez.

magazine

, Victoria Dávila, joined the controversy.

García had said that Villamizar "got Vicky Dávila's head", in reference to the hostility that Dávila has shown in recent months towards negotiations with the ELN.

Given this, the journalist also responded on Twitter, with a message that further raised the tension: “When are you going to understand that you are the ones who are criminals, that you are the ones outside the law?

I take his mention, being armed, as a threat.

Meanwhile, sitting in Mexico warming up and lying.

President Petro has asked the authorities to guarantee the safety of the communicators.

“Our government resolutely defends press freedom, one of the pillars of any democracy.

We reject threatening messages against journalists”, he commented.

Likewise, he has recognized García's message as a possible threat: "Any man who has control over weapons and speaks to unarmed journalists, without his will, should know that his mere presence, his mere word can represent a potential threat.

Politicians outside the government have also expressed their solidarity with Villamizar and Dávila.

The Democratic Center, the party of former President Álvaro Uribe, has been one of the first to reject García's "threats and intimidation": "His actions demonstrate his lack of will to achieve peace."

One of his congressmen, Juan Espinal, has asked Twitter to close the guerrilla leader's account.

"It cannot be that this man from his account sends threatening and intimidating messages to journalists and the country," he stressed.

The social network has responded to the claims.

"Account suspended" currently reads on Garcia's old profile.

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