By order of President Gustavo Petro, the Colombian Attorney General's Office has decided to suspend for a period of up to three months, the arrest and extradition warrants against 11 leaders of the National Liberation Army (ELN) terrorist group.
This is the second decision in this regard taken by the leftist president, a former member of the terrorist organization Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19), since he came to power just two weeks ago, with the excuse of "starting a dialogue" with the criminal gang.
"Por decreto he autorizado restituir los protocolos, permitir de nuevo negociadores, permitir que puedan reconectarse con su organización, suspender órdenes de captura y órdenes de extradición a esos negociadores, para que comience un diálogo con el ELN": presidente @petrogustavo pic.twitter.com/Oj1jdUrNOi
— Presidencia Colombia 🇨🇴 (@infopresidencia) August 20, 2022
The initiative was confirmed at a hearing by Attorney General Francisco Barbosa, who listed all the beneficiaries, including one of the ELN leaders, Israel Ramírez Pineda, alias Pablo Beltrán, and Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, also known as Gabino. "With respect to the decision of the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro Urrego, to reinstate the protocols and begin a dialogue with the ELN that will allow the arrest warrants be suspended, I want to inform the country that I have signed the resolution in which it is ordered to suspend for three months each and every one of the arrest warrants that have been signed or that will be signed," he stated.
This is Gustavo Petro's second attempt at rapprochement with the terrorists after sending his foreign minister, Alvaro Leyva, to Havana to begin what he called a "total peace" process between Colombia and the so-called "National Liberation Army".
On Twitter, the ELN's top leader, Eliécer Herlinto Chamorro, alias Antonio García, said he did not believe the Colombian president and called his words "false".
The eagerness of ex-terrorist Petro to continue to reach a rapprochement with the ELN contrasts with the attitude of other countries that continue to consider it a terrorist organization, such as the United States, Canada, Peru and the countries that make up the European Union.
ELN terrorists operate in both Colombia and Venezuela. Many of its leaders are on the run and refugees in communist Cuba.
