ELN Guerrilla First Commander Antonio Garcia at the Third Round of Peace Negotiation between the Colombian Government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) at El Laguito in Havana, on June 9, 2023. YAMIL LAGE / AFP
The commander of Colombia's largest guerrilla group on Thursday, January 16, backed calls for warring leftist militias to unite to repel any United States military operations in the country.
"If it's to defend the homeland against foreign aggression, we'll join the fight," ELN leader Antonio Garcia told AFP, responding to calls for factions to unite.
President Donald Trump, after ousting Nicolas Maduro as president in neighboring Venezuela, has suggested US forces may train their guns on targets in Colombia next. Trump has argued Colombia – the world's largest producer of cocaine – is not doing enough to stop drug trafficking to the US.
Ostensibly a leftist insurgent force, the 6,000-person-strong ELN doubles as one of Latin America's most powerful drug-trafficking organizations. It controls a swath of the Colombia-Venezuela border region and, before the ouster of Maduro, had close ties to Caracas. After Maduro was toppled by US forces, many guerrilla leaders are believed to have returned to Colombia.
