BOGOTA, Sept 18 (Askume) – The Colombian government has suspended peace talks with leftist rebel group the National Liberation Army after an attack that killed two soldiers and wounded more than two dozen, the Colombian peacekeeping mission said on Wednesday.
The decision is another devastating blow to President Gustavo Petro’s overall peace policy, which aims to remove the role of the National Liberation Army from the Andean country’s six-year internal armed conflict.
The government’s peace delegation tweeted: “Today, the peace process is suspended. Its viability has been severely undermined and it can only continue if the ELN makes a clear statement about peace.”
The government resumed talks with the National Liberation Army in late 2022 and has held six rounds of negotiations with resistance groups in Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela.
The talks had to be halted due to an attack on Tuesday in a rural area of Colombia’s Arauca province, which borders Venezuela.
The talks have been in jeopardy for months since the government decided to start separate talks with the National Liberation Army, a unit based in the southwest of the country, separate from the rest.
Negotiations reached an impasse and the ELN resumed kidnappings, using part of its arsenal that had been abandoned during the negotiations.
Since the end of the ceasefire, the ELN has increased its attacks on military and police forces and resumed bombings of Colombia’s oil pipeline network, causing oil spills and environmental pollution.
The Colombian Army also resumed operations against the rebels.
According to the government, the decision to suspend peace talks means the re-issuance of arrest warrants for senior ELN commanders currently stationed in Venezuela and Cuba.
ELN had no immediate comment.
