ELN organizes military drills, orders citizens to stay indoors, as Trump faces potential attack on drug-producing nations.
Colombia’s largest remaining rebel army has told civilians under its authority to stay home for three days while military exercises continue in response to growing threats from the United States.
The National Liberation Army (ELN), a left-wing rebel group, ordered a lockdown on Friday and instructed residents to close major roads and rivers from Sunday morning as fighters describe the group to defend the country against “imperialist interference”.
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The announcement is as follows Warnings President Donald Trump said the US could face military strikes or ground attacks on nations that produce and export cocaine.
“Civilians should not mix with soldiers to avoid accidents,” the ELN said.
Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez dismissed the rebel directive as “nothing more than criminal coercion” and vowed to maintain a government force presence “on every mountain, in every forest, in every river”.
Tensions between Washington and Bogotá are intensifying as Trump escalates his rhetoric against Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Earlier this week, Trump told business executives that Petro has “Good wise, or he’ll be next”It has threatened to oust President Nicolas Maduro, citing cocaine production as justification for possible action and warning of a US military build-up near Venezuela.
In recent days, the Trump administration has imposed new sanctions on Venezuela, targeting three nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, as well as six crude oil tankers and their associated shipping companies, as Washington ratchets up pressure on Caracas following the US seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker.
Petro has responded to Trump’s actions, including Approval President of Columbia, co Equal disobedienceTrump warned earlier this month against “awakening the jaguar” and that any attack on Colombian territory would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
There is a left-wing president invited His US counterpart, who witnessed the lab destruction first hand, claims his administration destroys a drug facility every 40 minutes. By the end of November Govt welcome It is said to be the biggest cocaine bust in a decade.
The rebel group, ELN, which has an estimated 5,800 fighters, controls important drug-producing areas, including the Catatumbo region on the border with Venezuela.
Al Jazeera correspondent Teresa Bo, who visited ELN-controlled territory in November, found the group exercising unchallenged authority, with fighters openly displaying banners. to declare “Total peace is a failure” and no government soldiers are in sight.
Commander Ricardo, a senior official interviewed during that visit, suggested that the rebels could join a broader resistance if Trump attacked Venezuela. Such an intervention could provoke an armed response across Latin America, he warned, describing US actions as a violation of regional self-determination.
The organization has tried to negotiate peace with five previous Colombian governments.
Discussed with Petro’s administration collapsed More than 100 people were killed and thousands forced from their homes after the ELN attacked in Catatumbo in January.
Despite claiming ideological motivation, the group derives substantial income from drug trafficking, competing with former FARC fighters who refused to disarm under a 2016 peace deal for control of coca cultivation zones and trafficking corridors.
Relations between Colombia and the US have deteriorated rapidly since Trump returned to office.
imposed by Washington Personal approval On Petro, his visa was revoked after he joined a pro-Palestinian protest in New York, and Colombia was removed from its list of trusted anti-drug partners.
Meanwhile, Trump has deployed and ordered the nation’s largest aircraft carrier and nearly 15,000 troops to the Caribbean. More than 20 military attacks In recent months, more than 80 people have been killed in attacks on alleged drug-trafficking vessels off the Pacific coast of the Caribbean and Latin America.
Human rights groups, some US Democrats and several Latin American countries have condemned the attacks as illegal extrajudicial killings of civilians.