Colombia on the Brink: ELN Guerrillas Ready to Resume War

As the boat neared the riverbank, camouflaged figures watched from the trees. Behind them, in the dark tropical forest, a commander of the National Liberation Army (ELN) sat with a rifle across his lap, amid the buzz of insects and the sound of soldiers chopping bamboo to set up camp, avoiding detection by enemy drones.

Colombia's 62-year armed conflict is entering a new chapter as newly inaugurated President Abelardo de la Espriella, sworn in on Friday, declared an end to peace negotiations and launched a fresh military offensive. The country's last guerrilla group says it is ready for anything.

"Wherever we can attack, we will," said the commander of the group's Western War Front, who goes by the alias Yerson. "And if the ELN leadership orders a military offensive at the national level, we will do it. Attacks in cities, in the countryside, anywhere."

Yerson and his fighters are deep in the Pacific province of Chocó, in an ELN stronghold accessible only by hours of river travel, where the oppressive heat seeps through even the cloud cover. The ELN and rival armed groups are fighting for control of the San Juan River, its resources, and the people along its banks. At one point during the journey, gunmen from the Gulf Clan, a violent paramilitary group, stopped the boat to question passengers before vowing to "liberate" the area from the ELN.

Yerson was unfazed: "All ELN territories are being invaded by mercenary groups. They are very violent, but they do not contest political power."

Colombia's conflict began in the 1960s, rooted in extreme land inequality and exclusionary politics. Left-wing guerrilla groups rose up to challenge the state, fighting government forces that later allied with right-wing paramilitaries, predecessors of the Gulf Clan. Money from cocaine trafficking fueled all sides. The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

The ELN was founded in 1964, blending Marxism-Leninism with Che Guevara's "foco" theory—the idea that a small armed group in remote rural areas could eventually topple the state—and liberation theology, which views the struggle against poverty and oppression as an expression of Christian faith. The group has carried out killings, kidnappings, and forced blockades or displacements of civilians. After the FARC demobilized in 2016 following a peace deal with the state, the ELN declared it would only lay down its arms once the country's political and economic systems were transformed.

"The FARC surrendered without getting anything in return," Yerson said, arguing that successive presidents failed to fully implement the peace agreement while former FARC fighters were killed. President Gustavo Petro, a leftist and former M-19 guerrilla, was elected in 2022 on a promise of "total peace," pledging to implement the FARC deal and negotiate with all remaining armed groups. But after several years, nearly all negotiations—including with the ELN, the Gulf Clan, and dissident FARC factions that refused to disarm—have stalled or collapsed.

Yerson dismissed the notion that the election of the first leftist president meant the ELN's goals could be achieved through the current political system. "They distributed land, reformed pensions, tried to improve healthcare. But in the end, those are small things. They don't help the awakening of the people." According to Yerson, Petro came to power because "Colombia's oligarchy" needed to appease the population after the inequality protests of 2019 and 2021, but they knew he "would never carry out fundamental reforms; he could be controlled." Colombia's political system "is not a democracy as they claim," he said.

Now, the ELN faces a very different figure: De la Espriella, a millionaire admirer of Trump, who rose from a career as a criminal lawyer defending accused leaders of the AUC (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia), the right-wing paramilitary group that fought guerrillas. De la Espriella has given armed groups a month to submit or face consequences, while vowing to deepen security cooperation with the U.S. and build mega-prisons inspired by El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele. However, security analysts say armed groups have only grown stronger and richer in recent years. The ELN has about 6,300 members, including armed fighters and unarmed supporters, spread across Colombia and Venezuela.

At the training camp, roughly 60 fighters were evenly split between men and women, Indigenous and Afro-Colombian. Each carried a modern assault rifle—AK-47 or AR-15, some stamped "Made in USA." One had a .50-caliber sniper rifle, capable of penetrating armored vehicles, while another operated a drone. The atmosphere was relaxed; when someone played vallenato music on a speaker, they propped their rifles against trees and danced, looking like ordinary young Colombians. Several organizations, including the UN and Human Rights Watch, accuse the ELN of recruiting minors, but Yerson insisted only those over 16 can join. Details about the fighters' backgrounds could not be verified, as they were ordered not to speak.

The ELN finances itself by "taxing every commercial establishment" in territories it controls; in Chocó, illegal gold mining and logging are major revenue sources, along with ransom kidnappings. "We are a nascent state, and every state taxes," Yerson said. He claimed coca cultivation has disappeared in ELN territory in Chocó, denying the group's involvement in drug trafficking, but acknowledged they tax the activity like any other business. The U.S., which has given the military a new role in fighting "narco-terrorism" across the Americas, may not care about that distinction. "The question of guilt doesn't matter to the U.S. What matters to them is interests," Yerson said. "We are the only guerrilla group still standing with political principles in Colombia and the world. We will always be what they want to destroy."

Yerson said the ELN will not just be defensive—it will attack wherever possible. Last week, a car bomb near a police station close to the Venezuelan border wounded 12 officers and 3 civilians; drone attacks are increasingly common. "They are legitimate targets. We don't place car bombs where civilians will die," he said, citing the 2019 suicide bombing at a police academy in Bogotá that killed 22 as a model. "Our comrades can carry out suicide attacks with similar impact."

Despite De la Espriella and other right-wing leaders taking power, Yerson insisted the ELN has not lost the ideological battle. He quoted Simón Bolívar: "A nation that is ignorant is a blind instrument of its own destruction." "The ideological war is not lost. We are on the right side of history." Asked whether Colombia is closer to the ELN's goals after decades of conflict, Yerson was uncertain: "I don't know. But I can say that the only way to win good things for the people is through struggle. We have fought for 62 years, and we will fight for many more."