A guerrilla attack that killed nine soldiers shakes the peace dialogue with the National Liberation Army

he peace dialogue It was carried out by the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas. I was in danger This Wednesday after Guerrilla attack in the Katatumbo district, killing nine soldiers And left nine wounded.

President’s reaction ColombianGustavo Petro, before the attack, which was launched with volleys of rifles and explosives, called for consultations with the government delegation negotiating with the ELN. “I have summoned the government delegation to the ELN table, the guarantor countries and the accompanying countries for consultations. The peace process must be serious and responsible with Colombian society,” the president announced in a message on his Twitter account. The presidency clarified that this call “does not mean freezing the dialogues,” nor that the government will leave the “negotiating table,” but it does not mean holding a meeting next Monday with negotiators and guarantor countries to evaluate decisions on recent facts.

The military reports that the attack took place in Guamalito, a small village in the municipality of El Carmen, in the province of Norte de Santander, against soldiers from the 10th Special Energy and Highway Battalion, who were on their way to patrol to take care. Oil infrastructure, an endless target of NLA attacks. In the attack, a second corporal, a third corporal, and seven soldiers who were doing compulsory military service, all young men between the ages of 18 and 25, died. Regarding the wounded soldiers, the scientific director of the Duarte de Cucuta Medical Clinic, Marta Isabel Pérez, said that eight of the patients are “in recovery and one of them is on guard.”

And Petro had already blamed the attack on “those who today are so far from peace and the people”, without referring to the ELN but hinting at it The attack could have consequences at the negotiating table. For his part, Defense Minister Ivan Velazquez told the press that the attack was an act that “contributes little to peace.”

Don’t stop shooting

The ELN has carried out other attacks against the general forces in Catatumbo and in the province of Arauca since it returned to talks with the government in November, but today is the most serious of all.

Peace talks are taking place on a travel table that has already passed through Caracas, Mexico and is expected to settle in Havana after Easter, if there are no changes after what happened.

Despite the government’s insistence on these talks The agreement is not made cease-fireIt is one of the points that attracted the most attention in the Mexico round and in which there is nothing more than a “structure” to achieve “a bilateral cessation of a national nature with the possibility of extension”, according to the High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Weil. “The continuation of the violence benefits the interests of the conflict. The ELN does not listen to the people: communities across Colombia want peace with social justice and for brothers to stop seeing themselves as enemies,” Alto’s office said in a statement. authorized.

On the other hand, the head of the Colombian government’s delegation to the peace talks with the National Liberation Army, Oti Patiño, confirmed today that he will request a ceasefire with the rebels in order to move forward on other points of the negotiations. “My position in the meeting that will be on Monday with the president will be to make the demand for a cease-fire and hostilities a priority as a necessary condition for advancing the participation of civil society in this process and the development of relief in areas where the NLA could interfere or affect the actions and dynamics,” Patiño said in a statement. humanity.

The government’s chief negotiator lamented that, in addition to these attacks, Fighters harassed the civilian population The restive provinces of Cauca, Arauca, Chocó and Nariño are in “flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law” which they claim to abide by. “This damages the public’s confidence in the NLA’s desire for peace and severely harms the cordiality of the talks and the implementation of the agreements,” he added.

widespread rejection

Various political parties denounced the attack, among them the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, who asserted that “there is always the possibility of getting up from the table when there are no conditions for dialogue” or “to suspend the ceasefire and order a total”. Offensive when there is no real will for peace.”

Senator Ivan Cepeda, one of the government’s negotiators and chair of the Peace Committee, asserted that “neither with explosive attacks against soldiers nor with the blowing up of oil pipelines perpetrated by the NLA, we will advance peace.” The condemnation was joined by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Maceo, who said: “Violence in all its manifestations undermines efforts to consolidate peace.”