BOGOTA – Colombian President Gustavo Petro suspended peace talks with the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) on Friday, after accusing the group of committing a war crime in the Catatumbo region, in the country’s Norte de Santander province.
“The dialogue process with this group is suspended, the ELN has no will for peace,” Petro said on X.
More than 30 people were killed and over 20 injured in Thursday’s attacks, said Norte de Santander governor William Villamizar.
At least five of those killed were demobilized former FARC rebels who were part of a 2016 peace agreement, the government said. It added that many of the victims were family members of demobilized former fighters and dissident FARC.
Members of Estado Mayor Central (EMC), a FARC dissident faction engaged in separate peace talks with the government, were also attacked, the government said.
The violence, which was condemned by the United Nations, had also led an unspecified number of civilians to be displaced, said the Catholic Church and the government’s human rights ombudsman.
Authorities in Norte de Santander are waiting to discuss the situation with Petro, Villamizar said. The government said in a statement that it would deploy 300 more troops to Catatumbo to end the violence, which it blamed on the ELN and FARC dissidents.
The dissidents are pulling back in the region to avoid confrontation with the ELN, said both the EMC and the government’s negotiator in peace talks with the former FARC rebels, Camilo Gonzalez.
Peace talks between the ELN and the government, which restarted in 2022, have been marred by setbacks. In September, the government suspended negotiations a day after an ELN explosives attack killed two soldiers and wounded 29 near the Venezuelan border.
Talks also stalled when the government opened separate negotiations with an ELN splinter group in the southwest, while the ELN resumed kidnappings, bombings of oil pipelines, and attacks on security forces.
Colombia’s majority state-owned energy company Ecopetrol said it would restrict work and movements at its operations in Catatumbo, including the Tibu field and Sardinata gas plant.
