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95-500: ELN may refer to: Paramilitary [ edit ] National Liberation Army (Colombia) (Spanish: Ejército de Liberación Nacional ), involved in the continuing Colombian armed conflict Ñancahuazú Guerrilla , a guerilla group active in the Cordillera Province, Bolivia from 1966 to 1967 National Liberation Army (Peru) (Spanish: Ejército de Liberación Nacional ),

190-677: A United Nations vote. This led the Mexican government to end its participation. In December 2005, the ELN and the Colombian government began a new round of exploratory talks in Havana, Cuba, with the presence of the ELN's military commander " Antonio García ", as well as "Francisco Galán" and "Ramiro Vargas". This was considered the direct result of three months of previous consultations with representatives of different sectors of public society through

285-551: A 42,000 km (16,200 sq mi) safe haven meant to serve as a confidence building measure, centred on the San Vicente del Caguán settlement. After a series of high-profile guerrilla actions, including the hijacking of an aircraft, the attack on several small towns and cities, the arrest of the Irish Colombia Three (see below) and the alleged training of FARC-EP militants in bomb making by them, and

380-552: A Colombian foundation for victims of abductions, 153 hostages had died "in the hands of the ELN" between 2000 and 2007. According to País Libre, ELN abducted over 3,000 people between 2000 and 2007. The ELN also occasionally operated with the FARC-EP , and like FARC, it has targeted civilians, according to a February 2005 report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights : "During 2004,

475-566: A European think-tank Emerging Leaders Network, a program of Toronto-based CivicAction Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title ELN . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ELN&oldid=1073938311 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Articles containing Spanish-language text Short description

570-557: A bilateral ceasefire between the ELN and the government, an emergency meeting took place on 21 January in Caracas to reassure both sides of their intentions and to set a date for the second round of negotiations, scheduled to commence on 12 February 2023. Prior to the restart of peace talks, the influential ELN-commander Antonio Garcia criticised the approach of the Colombian government, stating that "the peace process cannot be used as an ‘umbrella’ for other issues”. The former commander of

665-759: A former police inspector, said he had seen Mr McCauley with FARC-EP members in 1998. Without his testimony, legal sources said the chances of convicting the three men were reduced. They were eventually found guilty of travelling on false passports in June 2004 but were acquitted of training FARC-EP members. That decision was reversed after an appeal by the Attorney General of Colombia and they were sentenced to 17-year terms. However, they vanished in December 2004 while on bail and returned to Ireland. Tánaiste Mary Harney said no deal had been done with Sinn Féin or

760-595: A government agency, has estimated that between 1981 and 2012 paramilitary groups have caused 38.4% of the civilian deaths, while the Guerillas are responsible for 16.8%, the Colombian Security Forces for 10.1%, and other non-identified armed groups for 27.7%. The National Centre for Historical Memory has also concluded that of the 27,023 kidnappings carried out between 1970 and 2010, the Guerillas were responsible for 90.6% of them. The strength of

855-527: A guerilla group active in 1965 Science [ edit ] ELN (gene) , coding for Elastin Electronic lab notebook Other uses [ edit ] Bowers Airport , serving Ellensburg, Washington, United States East Lothian , historic county in Scotland, Chapman code Élan , an Irish pharmaceutical company Equity-linked note , a financial instrument European Leadership Network ,

950-518: A longstanding connection between the IRA and FARC–EP, mentioned at least 15 IRA members who had been travelling in and out of Colombia since 1998, and estimated that the IRA had received at least $ 2 million in drug proceeds for training FARC-EP members. The IRA/FARC-EP connection was first made public on 11 August 2001, following the arrest in Bogotá of two IRA explosives and urban warfare experts and of

1045-420: A press note shortly after that saying the rebel group "does not share the views" of "Galán" and dismissed him as their spokesman. The Marxist rebels did say they will continue to let "Galán" negotiate between the Colombian government and the rebels. On December 7, 2008 18 ELN guerillas surrendered to the Colombian army in the northwestern province of Chocó . In March 2016 the resumption of peace talks between

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1140-672: A protest in the frontier city of San Cristóbal , in Táchira state . Other protesters were injured during the shooting. In March 2020, the National Liberation Army (ELN) declared a unilateral one-month ceasefire during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic , to start on April 1. General Luis Fernando Navarro asserted on January 5, 2021 that the ELN lost 700 members through targeted attacks in 2020, and that it still had 2,500 armed combatants. On 21 November 2022, after

1235-772: A representative of Sinn Féin who was known to be stationed in Cuba . Jim Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly (known as the Colombia Three ), were arrested in Colombia in August 2001 and were accused of teaching bomb-making methods to FARC–EP. On 15 February 2002, the Colombia Three were charged with training FARC-EP members in bomb-making in Colombia. The Colombian authorities had received satellite footage of

1330-554: A response to the bombings made by the Colombian government during the unilateral ceasefire. As a result of the bombing, President Iván Duque Márquez announced on 18 January that peace dialogue between the Government of Colombia and the ELN was officially suspended. Duque also demanded that Cuba extradite the ten ELN leaders that found refuge on the island nation during peace talks and the reactivation of their Interpol Red Notices , and criticized Venezuela for providing refuge for

1425-533: A school for U'Wa children, and were fighting against encroachment of U'Wa territory by multinational oil corporations. The killings were questioned by many and condemned by many others, and led the United States to increase pressure on the Pastrana administration to crack down on FARC guerrillas. With the hope of negotiating a peace settlement, on 7 November 1998, President Andrés Pastrana granted FARC-EP

1520-504: A secret supplement to his report to the Joint Chiefs of Staff , Yarborough encouraged the creation and deployment of a US-backed force to commit " paramilitary , sabotage and/or terrorist activities against known communist proponents". The new counter-insurgency policy was instituted as Plan Lazo in 1962 and called for both military operations and civic action programs in violent areas. Following Yarborough's recommendations,

1615-474: A slow pace, the government decided to formally suspend capture orders for "Antonio García" and "Ramiro Vargas", recognizing them as negotiators and, implicitly, as political actors. The move was also joined by the creation of what was termed an alternative and complementary mechanism that could be used to deal with difficult issues and matters that concerned both parties, outside the main negotiating table. A formal negotiation process has yet to begin. On March 23,

1710-406: A truce to begin on October 1 and to last at least until January 12, 2018. From May 25 to May 29 the group had a ceasefire in order to allow for "favourable conditions" during the 2018 Colombian presidential election . The ELN said it hoped "that this spirit of conciliation of the ELN is answered with a similar behaviour" from the government. On 17 January 2019, the ELN performed a car bombing at

1805-490: A unilateral holiday truce lasting from 24 December 2022 until 2 January 2023. After Mexico agreed to be an official guarantor to the peace process, it was chosen as the host country for the second round of talks, expected to begin in January 2023. With the addition of Mexico, along with Cuba, Chile , Norway and Venezuela, there are now five guarantor countries to the peace process. After misunderstandings arose regarding

1900-614: A year earlier, when the two men were leading a march for peace from Medellín to Caicedo in Antioquia. On 13 July 2004, the office of the United Nations ' High Commissioner for Human Rights publicly condemned the group, given evidence that FARC-EP violated article 17 of the additional Protocol II of the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law, as a result of the 10 July massacre of seven peasants and

1995-471: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages National Liberation Army (Colombia) The National Liberation Army was founded in 1964, by Fabio Vásquez Castaño and other Colombian rebels trained in Cuba . The group included "urban intellectuals" influenced by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro . Later, the ELN was headed by a series of Roman Catholic priests, exponents of liberation theology. Most notable

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2090-485: The latifundio type of industrial farm (more than 50 hectares) occupied more than 77 per cent of arable land in the country. The AED policy increased the concentration of land ownership among cattle ranchers and urban industrialists, whose businesses expanded their profits as a result of reductions in the cost of labor wages after the influx of thousands of displaced peasants into the cities. During this period, most rural workers lacked basic medical care and malnutrition

2185-566: The Colombian National Army 's Operation Anorí (1973–74), and then reconstituted their forces, with partial assistance from the Colombian Government of President Alfonso López Michelsen (1974–78), who allowed the ELN to break from and escape encirclement by the Colombian army. President López Michelsen helped the ELN in the hope of initiating peace negotiations with them in order to end the civil war. After this,

2280-589: The European Union added the ELN to its list of terrorist organizations for those actions and its breaches of humanitarian law . The ELN's main source of income are businesses and middle class civilians in its areas of operation. To enforce these "taxes", they frequently take civilians captive to use as leverage. While the ELN uses the terms "war taxes" and "retentions" for these actions, critics insist they constitute "extortion" and "kidnapping". According to Claudia Calle , spokesperson for País Libre ,

2375-547: The FARC guerrillas, who are essentially peasants. In the 1970s, after suffering military defeat and internal crises, the ELN was commanded by the Spanish priest Father Manuel Pérez Martínez (1943–98), alias El Cura Pérez , who shared leadership with Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, alias "Gabino". El Cura Pérez presided over the National Liberation Army as one of its most recognized figures until he died of hepatitis B in 1998. He

2470-501: The General Santander National Police Academy in Bogotá , Colombia . The truck detonated and killed 21 people, including the perpetrator, and injured 68 others. It was the deadliest attack on the Colombian capital since the 2003 El Nogal Club bombing and the first attack on the capital since the 2017 Centro Andino bombing . The ELN accepted responsibility for the attack and justified it as

2565-577: The Simón Bolívar Guerrilla Coordinating Board and the government on neutral territory in Caracas , Venezuela and Tlaxcala , Mexico. However, the war did not stop, and armed attacks by both sides continued. The negotiation process was broken off in 1993 after no agreement was reached. The Coordinating Board disappeared not long after that time, and guerrilla groups continued their activities independently. Before

2660-485: The United Nations . One month later, FARC announced its reformation as a legal political party , in accordance with the terms of the peace deal. However, about 2,000 to 2,500 FARC dissidents still take on FARC's original doctrine and continue with drug trafficking, though far smaller than the group at its peak. A small faction of FARC leaders announced a return to armed activity on 29 August 2019, stating that

2755-593: The Venezuelan presidential crisis and said they "will fight" US troops if they invade Venezuela. The ELN has received support from the Tupamaro movement in Venezuela, a Venezuelan colectivo and political party. The Tupamaro movement supported the ELN's dialogue with the Colombian government, stating, "The Tupamaro Revolutionary Movement, now more than ever, stands in solidarity with this sister organization in

2850-596: The barrios discussing social problems, building support for the UP, and determining the sociopolitical stance of the urban peasantry. The UP performed better in elections than any other leftist party in Colombia's history. In 1986, UP candidates won 350 local council seats, 23 deputy positions in departmental assemblies, 9 seats in the House, and 6 seats in the Senate. The 1986 presidential candidate, Jaime Pardo Leal , won 4.6% of

2945-551: The election of Gustavo Petro breathed new life into the peace process, delegates of the ELN and the new Colombian government met in Venezuela to resume the peace talks that faltered in January 2019, after the Bogotá car bombing. The negotiations continued into the first week of December 2022, with representatives of the ELN and the Colombian government meeting for the continuation of peace talks in El Ávila National Park in Caracas . On

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3040-667: The nationalization of foreign businesses, Colombian banks, and transportation, and greater public access to mass media . While many members of the UP were involved with the FARC–EP, the large majority of them were not and came from a wide variety of backgrounds such as labor unions and socialist parties such as the PCC. In the cities, the FARC–EP began integrating itself with the UP and forming Juntas Patrióticas (or "solidarity cells") – small groups of people associated with labor unions, student activist groups, and peasant leagues, who traveled into

3135-483: The "coca boom" allowed them to expand into an irregular army, which would then stage large-scale attacks on Colombian troops. They also began sending fighters to Vietnam and the Soviet Union for advanced military training. They also planned to move closer to middle-sized cities, as opposed to only remote rural areas, and closer to areas rich in natural resources, in order to create a strong economic infrastructure. It

3230-417: The 2000 film Proof of Life starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe . Over this period in Colombia, the cultivation of different drugs expanded and there were widespread coca farmers' marches. These marches brought to a halt several major arteries in southern Colombia. Government officials said that FARC-EP had forced the protesters to participate. According to social anthropologist María Clemencia Ramírez,

3325-728: The Colombian government continued its negotiations with the FARC–EP and other armed groups, some of which were successful. Some of the groups which demobilized at this time include the EPL , the ERP , the Quintín Lame Armed Movement, and the M-19 . On 10 August 1990, senior leader Jacobo Arenas, an ideological leader and founder of FARC–EP, died of a heart attack at the Casa Verde compound in Colombia's eastern mountains. Towards

3420-496: The Colombian government did not respect peace agreements, a position Colombian officials disagreed with. The Colombian government responded with preemptive strikes, killing FARC members planning to lead rearmament activities. In October of 2023, the Colombian government engaged in peace talks with the FARC splinter group and agreed to a ceasefire. In January, both sides agreed to extend the ceasefire to June 2024. As of February 2024,

3515-496: The Colombian government effected a policy of Accelerated Economic Development (AED), the agribusiness plan of Lauchlin Currie , a Canadian-born U.S. economist who owned ranching land in Colombia. The plan promoted industrial farming that would produce great yields of agricultural and animal products for worldwide exportation, while the Colombian government would provide subsidies to large-scale private farms. The AED policy came at

3610-511: The Colombian military recruited civilians into "civil defense" groups which worked alongside the military in its counter-insurgency campaign, as well as in civilian intelligence networks to gather information on guerrilla activity. Doug Stokes argues that it was not until the early part of the 1980s that the Colombian government attempted to move away from the counterinsurgency strategy represented by Plan Lazo and Yarborough's 1962 recommendations. The Colombian government began attacking many of

3705-629: The ELN a demilitarized zone in the southern region of the Bolívar Department was thwarted by right-wing political pressure from the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) whose paramilitary mercenaries conduct anti-guerrilla operations in that part of the Bolívar Department. Peace talks began in 2022, but in August 2024 the Colombian government announced an end to a six-month ceasefire, as

3800-483: The ELN apparently abducted Misael Vacca Ramírez , the Roman Catholic Bishop of Yopal, though their reasons were not clarified. The kidnappers said that Ramírez would be released with a message, but " Francisco Galán ", a senior jailed ELN commander who has often acted as an intermediary between the government and the ELN's high command, said he did not know whether the group was responsible. The Bishop

3895-602: The ELN freed a Colombian soldier that it had kidnapped on February 25, delivering him to the Red Cross , saying that it was a unilateral sign of good will. The ELN's "Antonio García" expected to visit Cuba from April 17 to April 28, participating in different meetings with representatives of several political, economic and social sectors. The third round of the exploratory talks would have originally taken place in La Habana, Cuba from May 2 to May 12. The third round of talks

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3990-524: The ELN had returned to its practice of kidnapping civilians for ransom. Previous contacts continued during the early days of the Álvaro Uribe Vélez government but eventually were severed, neither party being fully trusting of the other. Only in mid-2004 did the ELN and the government began to make a series of moves that, with the announced mediation of the Vicente Fox government of Mexico , lead to another round of exploratory talks. On July 24, 2004

4085-725: The ELN on the Colombia-Venezuela border. In response to the request, Cuba's Foreign Minister announced that Cuba would abide by the protocols of ongoing negotiations between both parties. The Redes Foundation denounced in the Colombian Public Ministry that armed groups made up of National Liberation Army members and FARC dissidents, supported by the Bolivarian National Police and FAES officials, murdered two Venezuelan protesters, Eduardo José Marrero and Luigi Ángel Guerrero, during

4180-413: The ELN said that in the statement the dialogues in Havana ended without agreement because of "two different conceptions of peace and methods to get to it". Colombian President Álvaro Uribe invited ELN spokesman "Francisco Galán" for new talks about peace on April 3, 2008. The two spoke in the presidential palace. After the meeting Galán says the ELN will return to the negotiation table. The ELN released

4275-607: The ELN, Carlos Velandia, dismissed this stance as posturing ahead of the next round of talks, which commenced on time in Mexico City, opining that the ELN wants to negotiate its own accord and not be lumped in with other groups. The Colombian government appointed Vera Grabe Loewenherz as its head negotiator with the ELN in December 2023. The U.S. State Department has listed the ELN as a Foreign Terrorist Organization because of its reputation for ransom kidnappings and armed attacks on Colombia's infrastructure. In April 2004,

4370-449: The FARC between August 2002 and their collective demobilization in 2017, despite potentially severe punishment, including execution, for attempted desertion in the FARC. FARC made 239 attacks on the energy infrastructure; however, they showed signs of fatigue. By 2014, the FARC were not seeking to engage in outright combat with the army, instead concentrating on small-scale ambushes against isolated army units. Meanwhile, from 2008 to 2017,

4465-544: The FARC opted to attack police patrols with home-made mortars, sniper rifles, and explosives, as they were not considered strong enough to engage police units directly. This followed the trend of the 1990s during the strengthening of Colombian government forces . In June 2016, the FARC signed a ceasefire accord with the President of Colombia , Juan Manuel Santos in Havana . This accord was seen as an historic step to ending

4560-613: The FARC-EP and the ELN carried out a series of attacks against the civilian population, including several massacres of civilians and kidnappings by the FARC-EP. There were occasional joint actions by the FARC-EP and the ELN." In mid-2006, mutual rivalries between local FARC and ELN forces escalated into hostilities in Arauca , along the border with Venezuela. According to the BBC , "the FARC have for some years moved to take over ELN territory near

4655-476: The FARC–EP forces was high; in 2007, the FARC said they were an armed force of 18,000 men and women; in 2010, the Colombian military calculated that FARC forces consisted of about 13,800 members, 50 percent of whom were armed guerrilla combatants; and in 2011 the president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos , said that FARC–EP forces comprised fewer than 10,000 members. The Colombian Ministry of Defense reported 19,504 deserters , or individually demobilized members, from

4750-444: The FARC–EP were funded by kidnap and ransom , illegal mining , extortion , and taxation of various forms of economic activity, and the production and distribution of illegal drugs . They are only one actor in a complex conflict where atrocities have been committed by the state, right-wing paramilitaries, and left-wing guerrillas not limited to FARC, such as ELN, M-19, and others. Colombia's National Centre for Historical Memory ,

4845-637: The FARC–EP, along with a large number of other leftist and communist groups, formed a political party known as the Union Patriótica ("Patriotic Union", UP). The UP sought political reforms (known as Apertura Democratica ) such as constitutional reform , more democratic local elections, political decentralization, and ending the domination of Colombian politics by the Liberal and Conservative parties. They also pursued socioeconomic reforms such land redistribution , greater health and education spending,

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4940-575: The IRA over the three's return to Ireland adding that the Irish government would consider any request from the Colombian authorities for their extradition . Colombian vice-president Francisco Santos Calderón did not rule out allowing them to serve their sentences in Ireland. For most of the period between 2002 and 2005, the FARC-EP was in a strategic withdrawal due to the increasing military and police actions of new president Álvaro Uribe , which led to

5035-463: The Liberal–Conservative bipartisan system lasted until 1990. The 16-year extension of the bipartisan power-sharing agreement permitted the Liberal and Conservative elites to consolidate their socioeconomic control of Colombian society, and to strengthen the military to suppress political reform and radical politics proposing alternative forms of government for Colombia. During the 1960s,

5130-570: The National Liberation Army of Colombia resumed financing its military operations by means of kidnap for ransom , the extortion of money from Colombian and foreign petroleum companies and the taxation of the private illegal drug trade of Colombia. The ELN did not participate in the peace negotiations conducted between the Colombian government of President Andrés Pastrana Arango (1998–2002) and FARC, yet did participate in an exploratory conference about possibly participating in peace negotiations. A Colombian government initiative towards granting

5225-480: The PCC's attempts at organizing peasants were met with violent repression by the Colombian government and the landowning class. U.S. military intelligence estimated that in 1962, the size of the PCC had grown to 8,000 to 10,000 active members, and an additional 28,000 supporters. In 1961, a guerrilla leader and long-time PCC organizer named Manuel Marulanda Vélez declared an independent "Republic of Marquetalia". The Lleras government attempted unsuccessfully to attack

5320-483: The Venezuelan border, and the smaller rebel army reacted by killing several FARC militants". A statement posted on FARC's homepage accused the ELN of "attacks that we only expected from the enemy". On 26 May 2008 the ELN wrote a letter to the FARC secretariat, seeking cooperation with Colombia's largest rebel group to overcome "the difficulties we are experiencing in today's Colombian insurgent movement". The letter

5415-506: The atmosphere, here, is tense, and it seems a revolution may be brewing. The countryside is in open revolt, and the army is powerless to suppress it." Diary of Ernesto "Che" Guevara , 6 July 1952 In 1948, in the aftermath of the assassination of the populist politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán , there occurred a decade of large-scale political violence throughout Colombia, which was a Conservative – Liberal civil war that killed more than 200,000 people. In Colombian history and culture,

5510-529: The break off of dialogue, a letter written by a group of Colombian intellectuals (among whom were Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez ) to the Simón Bolívar Guerrilla Coordinating Board was released denouncing the approach taken by the FARC–EP and the dire consequences that it was having for the country. In the early 1990s, the FARC–EP had between 7,000 and 10,000 fighters, organized into 70 fronts spread throughout

5605-495: The capture or desertion of many fighters and medium-level commanders. Uribe ran for office on an anti-FARC-EP platform and was determined to defeat FARC-EP in a bid to create "confidence" in the country. Uribe's own father had been killed by FARC-EP in an attempted kidnapping in 1983. In 2002 and 2003, FARC broke up 10 large ranches in Meta, an eastern Colombian province, and distributed the land to local subsistence farmers. During

5700-440: The communist groups in the early 1960s, attempting to re-assimilate the territories under the control of the national government. FARC was formed in 1964 by Manuel Marulanda Vélez and other PCC members, after a military attack on the community of Marquetalia . 16,000 Colombian troops attacked the community, which only had 48 armed fighters. Marulanda and 47 others fought against government forces at Marquetalia and then escaped into

5795-537: The communities to drive out the guerrillas, due to fears that "a Cuban-style revolutionary situation might develop". After the failed attacks, several army outposts were set up in the area. In October 1959, the United States sent a "Special Survey Team" composed of counterinsurgency experts to investigate Colombia's internal security situation. Among other policy recommendations the US team advised that "to shield

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5890-512: The country. From 1996 to 1998 they inflicted a series of strikes on the Colombian Army, including a three-day offensive in Mitú ( Vaupés department ), taking a large number of soldiers prisoner. On 23 September 1994, the FARC kidnapped American agricultural scientist Thomas Hargrove and held him captive for 11 months. After his release, Hargrove wrote a book about his ordeal which inspired

5985-474: The demilitarised zone. Shortly after the end of talks, the FARC-EP kidnapped Oxygen Green Party presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt , who was travelling in Colombian territory. Betancourt was rescued by the Colombian government on 2 July 2008 (see Operation Jaque below). On 24 April 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations published the findings of its investigation into IRA activities in Colombia. Their report alleged

6080-659: The end of 1990, the Colombian army, with no advance warning and while negotiations were still ongoing with the group, attacked and seized four linked bases. The last of these a compound known as Casa Verde, which housed the National Secretariat of the FARC–EP, was seized on 15 December 1990. The Colombian government argued that the attack was caused by the FARC–EP's lack of commitment to the process, demonstrated by continuing its criminal activities and FARC attacks in November. On 3 June 1991, dialogue resumed between

6175-480: The exercise of government power by presenting a joint National Front candidate to each election and restricting the participation of other political movements. The pact was ratified as a constitutional amendment by a national plebiscite on 1 December 1957 and was supported by the Church as well as Colombia's business leaders. The initial power-sharing agreement was effective until 1974; nonetheless, with modifications,

6270-486: The expense of the small-scale family farms that only yielded food supplies for local consumption. Based on a legalistic interpretation of what constituted "efficient use" of the land, thousands of peasants were forcefully evicted from their farms and migrated to the cities, where they became part of the industrial labor pool. In 1961, the dispossession of farmland had produced 40,000 landless families and by 1969 their numbers amounted to 400,000 throughout Colombia. By 1970,

6365-521: The figure of a "House of Peace" ( Casa de Paz in Spanish). Representatives from Norway , Spain and Switzerland joined both parties at the talks as observers. The talks ended by December 22 and both parties agreed to meet again in January 2006. After a series of preliminary meetings, the next round of talks was later rescheduled for early-mid February. During the February talks, which moved at

6460-528: The first two years of the Uribe administration, several FARC-EP fronts, most notably in Cundinamarca and Antioquia , were broken by the government's military operations. On 5 May 2003, the FARC assassinated the governor of Antioquia, Guillermo Gaviria Correa , his advisor for peace, former defence minister Gilberto Echeverri Mejía , and eight soldiers. The FARC had kidnapped Mr. Gaviria and Mr. Echeverri

6555-797: The historic struggle against the neo-Granadian oligarchy and Yankee imperialism . We strongly ratify all of our support for the guerrillas and the ELN High Command, in the process that is developed with the participation of the Colombian people in the resolution of the armed conflict and the construction of peace with social justice". Participants Timeline Key aspects Former guerrillas Linked to Former government program Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Governments: Governments: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo , FARC–EP or FARC )

6650-628: The illicit narcotics industry in Latin America and Central Asia, has noted similarities in the reliance on the drug trade by both the FARC-EP and the Taliban . In his thesis, Labrousse asserts that the FARC-EP leadership, like that of the Taliban, explicitly bans the use of drugs by its membership and within the local population, but vigorously advocates for legalization of drug trafficking as a tool to finance its military objectives. In both cases,

6745-401: The insurgency groups manage to garner significant political support of farmers who serve to benefit from the illicit drug trade, prompting grassroots mobilization, political activism, and agitation to demand legalization by the government. In March 1999 members of a local FARC contingent killed three United States–based indigenous rights activists, who were working with the U'Wa people to build

6840-410: The interests of both Colombian and US authorities against 'interventionist' charges any special aid given for internal security was to be sterile and covert in nature". In February 1962, three years after the 1959 "US Special Survey Team", a Fort Bragg top-level U.S. Special Warfare team headed by Special Warfare Center commander General William P. Yarborough , visited Colombia for a second survey. In

6935-452: The kidnapping of several political figures, Pastrana ended the peace talks on 21 February 2002 and ordered the armed forces to start retaking the FARC-EP controlled zone, beginning at midnight. A 48-hour respite that had been previously agreed to with the rebel group was not respected as the government argued that it had already been granted during an earlier crisis in January, when most of the more prominent FARC-EP commanders had apparently left

7030-657: The killings are known as La Violencia (The Violence, 1948–58); most of the people killed were peasants and laborers in rural Colombia. In 1957–1958, the political leadership of the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party agreed to establish a bipartisan political system known as the National Front (Frente Nacional, 1958–74). The Liberal and the Conservative parties agreed to alternate in

7125-530: The men with FARC-EP in an isolated jungle area, where they were thought to have spent five weeks. They could have spent up to 20 years in gaol if the allegations were proved. During October 2001, a key witness in the case against the three Irish republicans disappeared. This came as Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams admitted one of the men was the party's representative in Cuba. The missing witness,

7220-421: The mountains along with the other fighters. These 48 men formed the core of FARC, which later grew in size to hundreds of fighters. In 1982, FARC–EP held its Seventh Guerrilla Conference, which called for a major shift in FARC's strategy. FARC had historically been doing most of its fighting in rural areas and was limited to small-scale confrontations with Colombian military forces. By 1982, increased income from

7315-477: The national vote. Since 1986, thousands of members of the UP and other leftist parties were murdered (estimates range from 4,000 to 6,000). In 1987, the President of the UP, Jaime Pardo, was murdered. In 1989 a single large landholder had over 400 UP members murdered. Over 70% of all Colombian presidential candidates in 1990—and 100% of those from center-left parties—were assassinated. During this period,

7410-484: The occasion, ELN chief negotiator Pablo Beltrán stated that Colombians have to work towards reconciliation and recreate a new nation in peace and equity and in a similar spirit Danilo Rueda, the High Commissioner for Peace in Colombia, stated that peace is not only a question of laying down arms, but a process linked to the need for change. Following the conclusion of the first round of talks, the ELN announced

7505-421: The parties were announced, but were put on hold until the release of all hostages still kept by the ELN. The last hostages were finally released in February 2017 and the talks commenced in the same month, with Pablo Beltrán and Juan Camilo Restrepo heading the delegations of the ELN and the Colombian government, respectively. On September 4, 2017, the ELN and President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia announced

7600-494: The poor people of Colombia. Priest Camilo was killed in his first combat as an ELN guerrilla, and so became the exemplar ELN soldier, to be emulated by ELN guerrillas and other liberation theology priests from the lower ranks of the Roman Catholic priesthood. In the years following its foundation, it brought together more students and young activists from cities than peasants, a social composition that distinguishes it from

7695-504: The relationship between the guerrillas and the marches was ambivalent: FARC-EP promoted the 1996 protests as part of their participatory democracy policies yet also exercised authoritarianism , which led to tensions and negotiations with peasant leaders, but the cocalero movement brought proposals on behalf of the coca growers and defended its own interests. French sociologist Alain Labrousse, who has conducted extensive research on

7790-600: The subsequent displacement of 80 individuals in San Carlos, Antioquia. In early February 2005, a series of small-scale actions by the FARC-EP around the southwestern departments of Colombia, resulted in an estimated 40 casualties. The FARC–EP, in response to government military operations in the south and in the southeast, displaced its military centre of gravity towards the Nariño , Putumayo and Cauca departments. The FARC-EP originally said that they would only release

7885-518: The vast majority of former FARC members have honored the 2016 peace agreement. However, in August 2024 the government announced an end to a ceasefire with the smaller dissident FARC faction the Estado Mayor Central, EMC, who reject the 2016 peace deal. "There is more repression of individual freedom here, than in any country we've been to; the police patrol the streets, carrying rifles, and demand your papers every few minutes ...

7980-619: The war that has gone on for fifty years. On 25 August 2016, the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, announced that four years of negotiation had secured a peace deal with FARC and that a national referendum would take place on 2 October . The referendum failed with 50.24% voting against. On November 24, 2016, the Colombian government and the FARC signed a revised peace deal , which the Colombian Congress approved on 30 November. On 27 June 2017, FARC ceased to be an armed group, disarming itself and handing over its weapons to

8075-401: The working class. These groups began networking together to present a defensive front against the state-supported violence of large landholders. Members organized strikes, protests, seizures of land, and organized communist-controlled "self-defense communities" in southern Colombia that were able to resist state military forces, while providing for the subsistence needs of the populace. Many of

8170-402: Was Camilo Torres Restrepo (1929–66), a well-known university professor (egalitarian and Marxist–Leninist) who was openly critical of the what he considered grossly unequal income among the social classes of Colombia. His attraction to the radical ideas of liberation theology led him to join the ELN, a guerrilla army intent upon effecting the revolutionary praxis of liberation theology among

8265-466: Was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasant self-defense groups formed from 1948 during the "Violencia" as a peasant force promoting a political line of agrarianism and anti-imperialism . They are known to employ a variety of military tactics , in addition to more unconventional methods, including terrorism . The operations of

8360-559: Was almost universal, which increased the rates of preventable disease and infant mortality. Communists were active throughout rural and urban Colombia in the period immediately following World War I . The Colombian Communist Party ( Partido Comunista Colombiano , PCC) was formally accredited by the Comintern in 1930. The PCC began establishing "peasant leagues" in rural areas and "popular fronts" in urban areas, calling for improved living and working conditions, education, and rights for

8455-423: Was also alleged that former FARC commander Iván Márquez participated in the talks with the ELN. Since the 1990s, the ELN began to establish positions in the western border states of Venezuela. The ELN grew close to Venezuelan officials during the tenure of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez , with Chávez approving relationships with the group. InSight Crime also states that Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro

8550-408: Was also at this conference that FARC added the initials "EP", for " Ejército del Pueblo " or "People's Army", to the organization's name. In the early 1980s, President Belisario Betancur began discussing the possibility of peace talks with the guerrillas. This resulted in the 1984 La Uribe Agreement, which called for a cease-fire , which ended up lasting from 1984 to 1987. In 1985, members of

8645-411: Was instrumental in establishing the ideology of the ELN, a composite of Cuban revolutionary theory and liberation theology that proposes the establishment in Colombia of a Christian and communist regime to resolve the socioeconomic problems of chronic political corruption , poverty , and the exclusion of most Colombians from their country's government. The ELN guerrillas survived the heavy fighting in

8740-518: Was later moved to take place from April 25 to April 28. Both parties reiterated their respect for the content and spirit of all previous agreements, and that they would continue working towards the design of a future peace process. The Colombian government and the ELN intend to study documents previously elaborated during the "House of Peace" stage, as well as documents from other participants and observers. Both parties expected to meet again after Colombia's May 28 presidential elections. On August 30, 2007

8835-513: Was published on the ELN website. On 27 June 2017, FARC ceased to be an armed group, disarming itself and handing over its weapons to the United Nations. According to InSight Crime , the ELN and FARC dissidents allegedly met together in Venezuela to form a potential alliance in October 2018. Sources based in the Arauca department in Colombia provided the information, with reports that the groups would participate in illicit activity together. It

8930-456: Was subsequently released by ELN members, in good health, on July 27, after his kidnapping had been condemned by Amnesty International and Pope John Paul II , among others. As far as is publicly known, he did not have any message to announce on behalf of the ELN. Eventually, the ELN questioned Mexico's participation in the talks, arguing that it did not have confidence in the actions of a government which voted against Fidel Castro 's Cuba during

9025-457: Was tolerant of the ELN, explaining that "ELN’s expansion in Venezuela has been marked by the Maduro administration’s inaction and even encouragement towards the group"; according to the group, the ELN operates in at least 12 of the 23 states of Venezuela. The Venezuelan NGO Fundación Redes has reported that the Venezuelan military had possibly armed ELN members. In 2019, ELN supported Maduro during

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