Colombia offers $700,000 reward for information on ELN rebel leaders

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s government on Saturday announced a roughly $700,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of four leaders of a rebel group, whose turf war with guerrilla dissidents in a coca-growing region bordering Venezuela has left dozens of people dead.

A social media post from the Defense Ministry detailed the reward for the heads of the National Liberation Army, known by its Spanish language acronym ELN.

The move followed President Gustavo Petro’s decision on Friday to issue a decree giving him emergency powers to restore order in the affected region, including through curfews and other steps that would normally violate Colombians’ civil rights or require congressional approval.

Those subject to the reward are Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, Eliecer Herlinto Chamorro, Gustavo Aníbal Giraldo Quinchía and Israel Ramírez Pineda.

The conflict in the rural Catatumbo region, where the Colombian state has struggled for decades to gain a foothold, has left at least 80 people dead and 40,000 others displaced over the past 10 days, according to the local government, as fighting intensified between the ELN and holdouts from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the group’s Spanish acronym.

The area is key for drug trafficking, the smuggling of goods and other cross-border illicit activities.

The ELN has traditionally dominated in Catatumbo, but has been losing ground to holdouts from the FARC, a guerrilla group that largely disbanded after signing a peace deal in 2016 with the government.

Located on Colombia’s border with Venezuela, the Catatumbo region has around 300,000 residents and produces 15% of Colombia’s coca crop.

The FARC-EMC holdout group and the ELN have long battled for control of the region and its lucrative drug trafficking routes, but had recently held a truce.

But violence recently escalated when members of the ELN attacked civilians, accusing them of collaborating with the FARC-EMC. ELN rebels reportedly dragged people out of their homes and shot them at close range.

Petro’s government blames the ongoing violence primarily on the ELN, with which it began peace talks after he took office in 2022.

Earlier this week, Petro reactivated arrest orders against 31 top ELN commanders that had been suspended as part of the effort to woo the Cuban revolution-inspired insurgency into a peace deal. Petro also suspended all dialogue.

Colombia’s military on Saturday announced that it was deploying armored vehicles to reinforce security where the army and the ELN clashed on Friday. The conflict is spilling across the border into Venezuela, where some of those fleeing the violence have sought refuge.

The whereabouts of the ELN peace negotiators is unknown. But Cuba’s government this week said they weren’t there, leading some to speculate they may be hiding in Venezuela, which is one of the sponsors of Petro’s peace initiative with the ELN.