RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The National Liberation Army guerrilla group (ELN) in Colombia has been conducting a nationwide military strike. The strike has been announced to last 72 hours and is to take place from February 14th to 17th.
In a statement, the ELN says that the population is safe in their homes or at their workplaces and in the fields, but that they should refrain from all forms of transport and travel. Anyone violating this and sabotaging the strike would be fully liable in case of loss of their means of transport and goods.
However, the ELN respects the transport of patients and funerals. The guerrilla groups were asked to treat the people with respect. In order to prepare the population and not to expose them to “unnecessary danger”, the strike has been announced well in advance.
Although the announcement fails to mention details, its date suggests that the action is intended to mark the liberation theologian Camilo Torres Restrepo. Torres was killed on February 15th, 1966 in a fight in the Santander department, after he had joined the ELN four months earlier. After his death Torres became an icon of the Latin American left-wing and liberation movements.
President Iván Duque was resolute in the face of the strike: “Terrorists cannot intimidate the country. Colombia does not shy away from the threats of any armed group; today more than ever, we are a resilient nation and a solid democracy. Police and military are on high alert”.
“We will not allow these criminals to blackmail the government with terrorism and attacks on civilians and infrastructure,” said Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo.
Duque has suspended peace negotiations with the ELN since taking office in August 2018 and declared them closed in January 2019 after the guerrillas attacked a police academy in Bogotá. Since then, the Colombian government has been demanding the extradition of the ELN negotiation delegation from Cuba.
The ELN delegation is still in Cuba and is demanding that negotiations continue. But Duque makes this conditional on the ELN “releasing all those kidnapped and refraining from all violent actions”. According to the Ideas para la Paz (Ideas for Peace) Foundation, the ELN has grown to almost 5,000 fighters in recent years. It is most strongly represented in the Arauca, Chocó and North of Santander regions.
The re-armed forces of the Farc-EP have also announced a strike on the same days as the ELN. Since February 9th, a flyer has been circulating in the Cauca department. The circulation of vehicles is forbidden and in case of violation they are threatened with destruction. In addition, stores, markets, nightclubs and pubs are to remain closed. People who do not comply with this are declared a “military target”.
The Association of Indigenous Authorities of the Northern Cauca (ACIN) has responded to the threat with a call for collective mobilization as a sign of resistance. In it, ACIN’s 22 indigenous autonomous regions reject the strike, “which lacks any justification. Instead, it is bringing the tensions of conflict back into our territories”.
Although the government is to blame for the failure in the peace process and the killing of 800 social activists, the ACIN condemns the actions of all armed groups in its region. The political determination to pursue the war and the military attack on indigenous peoples cannot be tolerated.
“The armed groups rely on violence to assert their power and violate the rights of our communities in our own territory. That is why we do not accept their decision to go on armed strike,” said Rigoberto Muñoz Castillo, a spokesperson for the indigenous movement in the Tacqueyó region of the Cauca.
According to media reports, on Friday, the first day of the strike, there were several armed incidents, vehicles burned and roadblocks were set up. The rioters’ actions affected the flow of people and goods in the Catatumbo region of North Santander – which was the most affected – and in Arauca, Cesar and Cauca.