The National Liberation Army (ELN), officially the last rebel group to continue its armed struggle in Colombia, claimed responsibility Saturday for the bombing in Cali, the third largest city in the Andean country, which injured thirteen police officers, some seriously.
ELN members attacked the vehicle, which was transported by members of ESMAD, the dreaded riot unit, on Friday night.
“At 21:55 on January 7, our units conducted an operation against ESMAD (…) in the city of Kali,” the organization said in a statement uploaded to a website belonging to the so-called ELN city front, adding that the guerrillas were able to to withdraw without anyone suffering the slightest.
Both police and the ELN reported 13 police officers injured. According to the authorities, some of the injured are in serious condition, however there has been no death.
There were also no civilian casualties in the Puerto Regina district, where the attack took place.
The action was denounced by the government and law enforcement forces.
“We condemn this cowardly terrorist attack,” was the reaction of President Ivan Duque via Twitter before taking responsibility. He said three police officers were serious.
He later spoke of insurgents trying to influence the climate in the run-up to the presidential election later this year.
“Colombia is not and will never back down in the face of terrorism, and our government will never reward the terrorists,” Duchess added.
Authorities are offering a fee of 1 billion pesos for information leading to the arrest of El Rolo, the leader of the so-called ELN city front, and 350 million pesos for information leading to the arrest of those who planned and carried out the operation. Friday’s attack, said General Jorge Vargas, the police chief.
The ELN is estimated to have around 2,450 guerrillas today. The organization, founded by radicalized Catholic priests inspired by the theology of liberation and revolution in Cuba, has been fighting the Colombian state since 1964.
Peace talks that began between the previous Colombian government and the ELN fell to the ground in early 2019 by President Duque, following a bomb attack on a police academy in Bogota that killed 22 people.
His government often accuses Socialist President Nicolas Maduro in neighboring Venezuela of offering protection and shelter to ELN fighters and FARC dissidents who reject the 2016 peace deal, despite repeated denials by Caracas.
Off the coast of Colombia, Cali, the third largest city in the country with a population of 2.2 million, is considered one of the most violent in Latin America, as it has turned into gangrene the action of drug-trafficking gangs, against the background of huge poverty and unemployment.
Kali had also been at the center of a popular uprising against the right-wing government for several months, amid plans to change taxes. The mass mobilizations were met with bloody repression.
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