Colombia: Attorney general’s office reactivates arrest warrants against ELN leadership
The decision is based on new crimes committed by members of the guerrilla group.

An ELN guerrilla in a file photo.
Colombia's attorney general's office announced Wednesday the reactivation of arrest warrants against the ELN guerrilla leadership following a recent attack on the Venezuelan border, which left more than 80 dead and some 32,000 displaced.
"The attorney general of the Nation, Luz Adriana Camargo Garzón, revoked the benefits of suspension of arrest warrants that 31 representatives of that group had since 2022 and 2023," said a statement released by the attorney general's office.
Among those whose benefits are revoked are top guerrilla leaders Pablo Beltrán, “Gabino” and Antonio García.
Also included are members of the ELN negotiating team in the peace talks with the government that began in 2022, but which have been suspended since Friday by decision of President Gustavo Petro.
According to the information, the arrest warrants will go into effect as of this Wednesday, the report adds.
The attorney general said her decision is based on "new crimes committed by members of the ELN," following the escalation of violence since Thursday in the border region of Catatumbo, plagued by drug crops, where the criminals are keeping the civilian population in fear.
The attorney general’s office considers that the guerrilla onslaught represents a "non-compliance with the conditions for the suspension" of the judicial orders against the guerrilla leadership, a request the government had made as a goodwill gesture.
In August 2022, AFP recalled, a few days after taking office, President Petro asked the attorney general to suspend arrest warrants against 18 ELN leaders, including chief negotiator Pablo Beltrán.
A second group of leaders, including military commander Antonio García, benefited from the same measure in 2023.
Since then, the guerrilla leaders have been able to move freely through the country.

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Pablo Beltrán was even at the end of 2023 at a public event in Bogotá, a city in which he had not set foot in three decades living in hiding.
The resumption of negotiations is an unknown. Petro suspended the talks, accusing the ELN of perpetrating "war crimes" in Catatumbo and on Monday announced he would decree a "state of internal commotion" in the face of the growing wave of violence.
"The situation in Catatumbo teaches," Petro admitted in a public address on Tuesday. "One also learns from failures, and there is a failure there. A failure of the nation."
Since coming to power, Petro has been betting on a dialogue-based solution to the conflict with guerrillas, gangs and drug trafficking groups. But the violence has put the left-wing leader's bet to make peace with all the armed groups in Colombia at risk.