The responsibility for bombing in Cali, its third largest city Colombia, aimed at a vehicle carrying members of ESMAD, was taken over by the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last rebel organization to continue the armed struggle in the country.
“At 21:55 on January 7, our units conducted an operation against ESMAD (…) in the city of Cali”, the organization said in a statement that was uploaded to a website belonging to the so-called city front of the ELN, adding that the guerrillas were able to withdraw without anyone being harmed in the slightest.
Both the police and the ELN spoke of 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 casualties among the citizens 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 he took office. He said three police officers were serious.
Later, he talked about rebel attempt to influence the climate ahead of the presidential election to be held later this year.
“Colombia will not and will never back down in the face of terrorism and our government will never reward terrorists”, added Mr. Duke.
Authorities are offering a fee of 1 billion pesos for information that would lead 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 Friday’s attack, said General Jorge Vargas, the police chief.
THE THE N It is estimated that it currently has around 2,450 guerrillas. 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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