Colombia on the brink: ELN guerrilla group prepares for return to war
Colombia's ELN guerrilla group is preparing for a potential return to full-scale conflict as a new president takes office with a promise to end peace talks. Rebels have signaled their readiness to launch military offensives in both rural and urban areas.
Why it matters
The potential collapse of peace negotiations threatens to reignite a decades-long armed conflict, impacting regional stability in Latin America.
ELN members at a camp in southern Chocó, Colombia. ELN members at a camp in southern Chocó, Colombia. Colombia Colombia on the brink: ELN guerrilla group prepares for return to war As Abelardo de la Espriella takes office as president vowing a new military offensive, the country’s last leftwing rebels are getting ready to fight back
As the boat approached the riverbank, camouflaged figures watched from the tree line.
Behind them, in the dim understory of the jungle, a commander of the National Liberation Army (ELN) sat with his rifle on his lap, amid the buzz and whine of insects and the thwacks of machetes on bamboo as his troops set up camp, hidden from enemy drones.
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