National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas kidnapped a Colombian army sergeant and her two children, aged six and eight, one of them with autism, while they were traveling along a highway in the department of Arauca, on the border with Venezuela, sources said. Colombian military this Wednesday (5).
It is the second sergeant Ghislaine Karina Ramírez and a girl and a boy who were traveling in a private car through the municipality of Fortul, in Arauca, which is located in the northeast of Colombia. During the trip, on Monday (3), they were detained by the Domingo Laín Front of the ELN, the Commander of Task Force Quirón, of the Eighth Division of the Army, said in a statement.
“They are children and my daughter is young,” denounced the sergeant’s father, Gerardo Ramírez, in an interview with Caracol radio, in which he said that the three were going to Arauca to visit the children’s father, who is also a soldier. Ramírez also said that one of the children needs “special attention” because of his autism spectrum.
The events took place before the beginning of the ceasefire announced yesterday by the Central Command of the ELN and which will take place from this Thursday (6th) until August 3rd, when the bilateral ceasefire with the Colombian government, agreed in the Havana peace talks.
“From midnight on July 6 to midnight on August 3, 2023, National Liberation Army structures must cease all offensive military actions against Military and Police Forces throughout the national territory,” the guerrilla’s Central Command said on Tuesday (4) in a statement.
However, on Tuesday, the day the ELN completed 59 years of its creation, members of the group murdered three police officers in the convulsed region of Catatumbo, which is also in northeastern Colombia.
Two police officers were shot dead while having breakfast at a restaurant in the municipality of El Zulia and another was the victim of a sniper in Tibú, both in the department of Norte de Santander.
In addition, the ELN’s Western War Front, which operates in the jungle department of Chocó, western Colombia, has announced an “armed strike” since Tuesday that will last “indefinitely” throughout the region of San Juan, Sipí , Cajón and its tributaries. In the area there are more than 8 thousand people confined and more than 650 displaced.
El Chocó, located in the Pacific region, has suffered several armed attacks by the guerrillas, who are in open combat with the paramilitary Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC).
It remains to be seen whether as of this Thursday the different fronts of the ELN will effectively cease their offensive actions against the Army and the intelligence operations requested by the high command or will they continue violent acts in areas such as Chocó, Arauca and Catatumbo, where the guerrillas have a lot of influence. .
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