BOGOTA – A front of Colombia’s left-wing rebel group the National Liberation Army has broken away from the group’s central command, becoming the guerrilla’s first dissident faction and the Colombian government on Wednesday recognizing the group as an independent organization.
The Southern Community Front, which operates in Colombia’s Narino department, announced its split from the wider ELN on Tuesday. Pablo Beltran, head of the rebel group’s peace delegation, confirmed the news almost immediately.
Analysts say the ELN’s split could pose an obstacle to a comprehensive peace policy pursued by leftist President Gustavo Petro’s government, which hopes to end the group’s role in Colombia’s 60-year internal conflict , this conflict has killed at least 450,000 people.
“This group from Narino will therefore be treated as an organization independent of the national organization and will be subject to political negotiations,” the government peace attaché’s office said in a statement.
On Monday, the ELN said it would end a moratorium on kidnappings and accused the government of delaying the establishment of a multi-donor fund aimed at financing the peace process.
Although six rounds of negotiations have been held since the end of 2022, talks are in crisis after the government brought forward a meeting with the faction in the province of Narino, seeking talks on the group’s surrender of weapons and reintegration into society.
The Office of the Peace Commissioner said it would work to ensure that the ELN did not abandon its commitment to abandon kidnappings.
Negotiations between previous governments and the ELN, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, broke down due to the group’s militant stance, fragmented chain of command and internal dissent.
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