(CNN) – This Tuesday’s attack on the Puerto Jordán military base in Arauca, Colombia, which caused the Government of Gustavo Petro to close the peace process with the National Liberation Army (ELN), was carried out by its Eastern War Front (FGO ), this guerrilla group reported in a statement.
“Our action against this paramilitary plan is legitimate, we are an organization with political principles, as an insurgent guerrilla with more than 60 years of struggle, combat and resistance,” the FGO detailed in the letter published this Friday on the Delegation’s X account. of ELN Dialogues.
The group assured that it has complied with extending the ceasefire for one year, but noted that the Government “continued not to comply, it underestimated our will to resume the Peace Dialogues.”
CNN has sent a request for information to the Presidency of Colombia to obtain its comments regarding these allegations and is still awaiting a response.
Hours after the attack, Petro announced that the peace dialogue that his Government was holding with the ELN was closing and described the attack as a “terrorist action.”
“Practically it is an action that closes a peace process with blood, and it is like an eternal future, silencing a part of the people and continuing in wars and killing each other over and over again as if that were our history,” said the president. during a public event.
While the Colombian authorities have reported the death of three soldiers in the attack with explosives, the ELN faction assures that it has information of more than 30 casualties between dead and wounded.
The eighth division of the Colombian National Army stated this Thursday that they would intensify military operations to locate and bring to justice those responsible for the attack.
