:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/EGOOD4UXRFFMFEQC757J2XUHOQ.jpeg "The ELN is planning attacks in different cities: the authorities have had indications of them since 2022 1")
While the dialogues between the Colombian State and the National Liberation Army continue in Mexico, a letter has been published in Colombia in which a plan of attack against the police and the army has been disclosed. The letter apparently comes from the central command of the ELN. The attacks are said to resemble the one that happened at the General Santander Cadet School on January 17, 2019.
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The letter, revealed by Weekis a communication that the central command would have sent to all its war fronts with the order to attack the Public Force, in retaliation for the operations of the authorities against the guerrillas.
“Continuing military pressure and execution of operations against our leaders and forces in the territories must respond to an action similar to that of January 17, 2019,” reads the letter, quoted in Week.
In the document, the ELN’s central command warns that it considers that “in any military action with national and international repercussions, there is a struggle for legitimacy. In the case of the action of the 17th (cadet school), it was completely legitimate with the peoples and revolutionaries of the world and the continent. A larger media design was missing. We recognize the slain comrade as a hero”.
First progress of the Table de concertation: the government delegation is optimistic, the negotiations are progressing at a good pace
From Mexico, Senator and member of the negotiating team, Iván Cepeda, warned that although they are optimistic about the progress of the negotiations, it is not yet clear when they may be announced.
They also take stock of their latest attacks:
“The escalation of the military confrontation has resulted in the loss of operational commands which require significant efforts to fill their gaps. The new generation of paramilitaries has been reactivated, where groups claiming to be ex-FARC have tried to contest our territories in alliance with the Military Forces, a phenomenon that has occurred especially on the Pacific coast and has led to an overwork of our structures.
To this they add that “all the war fronts (FG) have been in permanent military operations and with an increase in the foot of force, saturating the territories where we are present”
To the letter revealed by Weekwe must add an audio in which, according to the authorities, alias Gerson, head of the front Ernesto Che Guevara, would be incited to call another armed strike.
“La Force Publique continues to pave the way for paramilitary assassins. On January 27, the army was in the Cajón River, they were patrolling the area and at any time they were abandoning the territory. Immediately they enter paracos publicly and brazenly to occupy this territory where they have been imposing their laws of terror for almost a month”, we heard the leader of the ELN say.
According to the audio, the armed strike would begin on Saturday, February 25: “The Western War Front, Omar Gómez, of the ELN, decrees an indefinite armed strike from zero hours on February 25, in La Torra, Nóvita and Río sectors of the Cajón highway, with its tributary”.
The national police chief, Brigadier General Tito Castellanos, warned that the police, the prosecutor’s office and the military forces have stepped up their prevention efforts in 10 main cities such as Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Pereira, Neiva , Bucaramanga, Cartagena, Barranquilla and others, as well as in 15 municipalities in the regions of Arauca, Chocó, Nariño, Norte de Santander and Cauca.
“Some alerts are generated mainly in urban areas through one of the components of the famous ELN war fronts whose police, prosecution and military forces have carried out preventive actions in 16 cities of the country and in 15 decentralized cities mainly in the border region such as Arauca, Chocó, Nariño, Norte de Santander and the sector surrounding Caquetá,” said Brigadier General Castellanos, quoted in Radio Blue.
Castellanos also warned, according to statements cited in The weatherthat since August 2022 there were already hints of an alleged ELN attack plan:
“This collection dates from mid-August last year, intelligence sources began to collect information through human forces and technical activities, it was verified, and preventive measures were taken.”
in dialogue with snail radiothe senator and member of the national government’s negotiating delegation, Iván Cepeda, assured that the letter in which the ELN would announce possible attacks does not exist, as confirmed by the head of the ELN delegation .
“At the meeting this morning, we talked about the intelligence report, which was allegedly obtained through the interception of a letter from the central command of the ELN addressed to its war fronts, announcing an action similar to that that took place at the General Santander Cadet School,” said Senator Cepeda snail radioa lo que añadió: “lo que hemos tenido como información y respuesta es que noexiste tal carta, eso lo ha señalado de manera explícita el jefe de la delegación del ELN y desmienten cualquier rumor o especulación en relación a (sic) cualquier carta de nature”.