NorOriental War Front
The war decreed by Ivan Duque still has its stage in the Colombian Catatumbo. Each time the president makes reference to this region, its to sentence the resistances that oppose the politics of pillaging, repression and violence oficialised by the Government, and to place the territory and its resources at the service of transnational corporations.
The governors in place declare war to a region which has always worked, fought for and constructed peace, expressed today in an increase in state-led violence, increasing human rights violations, murder of social leaders, a plan of extermination of social movements and their leaders; as well as the threat of eradication of illegal crops, without a viable alternative for farmers, and recent announcements of an incursion of coal-industry businesses to pillage the mineral resource in the border area.
The government declares war to a region that cries out for peace.
In its fight and compromise for the defense of the region and the peoples’ interests, the Colombian Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional maintains its permanent military action against the army and the transnational infrastructure, affecting the oligarchy’s economy and carrying out various blows against the invading army and the paramilitary groups.
Product of our actions and as we revealed in previous days, on the 11th of January, guerrilla units of the Nororiental War Front neutralized a money-transport helicopter in the jurisdiction area of the municipality of Hacari, in the North of Santander, retaining its crew formed by Captain Julio Diaz, Carlos Quinceno and Maxwell Joya, who we release today, fulfilling our public compromise made with their family members in our release on the 16th of January.
These detainees have received dignified and respectful treatment, in accord with the politics of the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional.
In regards to the recrudescence of the war announced by Ivan Duque, the ELN responds with its political and military action, as well as reiterating its will in searching for paths offering a political solution that drive the country towards a future of change and transformation.
Nororiental War Front
Chief Commander Manuel Perez Martinez
Ejército de Liberación Nacional de Colombia