The National Liberation Army (ELN) accused Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday of 'caving in to the orders of the US empire' following a military bombing that caused at least seven guerrilla deaths in the Catatumbo region, bordering Venezuela. 'The government of President Petro has decided to cave in to the orders of the US empire and place itself at the service of the neocolonial onslaught led by Donald Trump,' the guerrilla group expressed in a statement posted on X. The Armed Forces reported last week that the operation, in which seven guerrillas were killed and one captured, took place in the early hours of February 4 in a rural area of the municipalities of El Tarra and Tibú, part of Catatumbo in Norte de Santander. The operation occurred days after Petro's meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on February 3, where both leaders agreed to resume a 'direct and frank dialogue' and advance cooperation against drug trafficking. At that meeting, the Colombian president proposed that the armies of Colombia and Venezuela jointly confront the drug traffickers operating on the border, including the pursuit of ELN leaders. Petro himself stated on his X account that the attack in Catatumbo was the 14th bombing during his government and that it was carried out 'avoiding to the maximum the fall of minors,' referring to the recruitment of children by armed groups. The president maintains that the ELN, with which he held peace talks that did not prosper, left the insurgency to dedicate itself to drug trafficking and that these operations seek to protect the population affected by the war that this group has been waging since January 2025 against the 33rd Front of FARC dissidents for control of Catatumbo. According to the ELN, in its dispute with the 33rd Front of dissidents, Petro has sided with the latter group. In these clashes, more than a hundred people have died, and nearly 65,000 peasants have been forced to abandon their lands to seek safety. 'While the next government arrives, we will continue to dialogue with society, popular organizations, and communities to advance towards the construction of the National Agreement that we have proposed to the country,' added the guerrilla group. The ELN is the second-largest armed group in Colombia, after the Gulf Clan, and according to the Ideas for Peace Foundation (FIP), as of last July, it had about 6,450 members and maintains a strong presence on the border with Venezuela, which extends for 2,219 kilometers.
