Colombia suspends peace talks with ELN rebels after deadly attacks

Colombia has suspended peace talks with rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN) after a recent series of attacks blamed on the guerrilla group claimed the lives of several government forces.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos made the announcement on Monday, arguing that the move was prompted after a series of ELN’s bomb attacks on three police stations across the Latin American country at the weekend had left at least seven police officers dead and dozens others injured.

Santos said at an event near the capital Bogota that his patience and that of the Colombian people had limits.

“So, I have taken the decision to suspend the start of the fifth cycle of negotiations that was scheduled for the coming days, until we see coherence between the ELN's words and its actions,” he said.

The ELN and the Colombian government had been in formal peace talks for nearly a year and agreed to their first-ever ceasefire in October before the rebel group claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks.

Colombia’s Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas denounced the attacks as “terrible acts of terrorism,” and said the recent violence raised the question of whether the group sought peace with the government in Bogota.

The ELN is Colombia’s second largest rebel group with 1,500 members. It began its peace talks with the government last February after the biggest rebel group in the country, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), laid down its arms under UN supervision following a peace deal with President Santos.

FARC has now disarmed and transformed itself into a political party, known as the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force.

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