Reports indicate that Latin America’s most powerful guerrilla groups are being encouraged to put aside years of bloody internal strife and unite against President Donald Trump.
These calls have grown stronger after the arrest of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, which has stoked fears among the groups of an impending US – backed military intervention.
According to reports, the recent call came from Nestor Gregorio Vera, also known as “Ivan Mordisco”, who released a video appeal to rival rebel factions, despite years of brutal in – fighting.
After decades of engaging in a bloody conflict over territory, drug routes, and illegal economies, Vera stated that the time had come to set differences aside.
Reuters reported that Vera said in the video, where he appeared in camouflage flanked by two heavily armed fighters, “The shadow of the interventionist eagle hangs over everyone equally. We urge you to put aside these differences.”
He added, “Destiny is calling us to unite. We are not fragmented forces; we are the heirs of the same cause. Let us create unity through action and forge the great insurgent bloc that will repel the enemies of the greater homeland.”
Among the groups mentioned was the left – wing National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia’s largest and most powerful guerrilla organization, which controls large sections of the 1,400 – mile border between Colombia and Venezuela.
Jorge Mantilla, a security analyst and expert on Colombian guerrilla groups, said, “The war between Mordisco’s Farc dissidents and the ELN has been extremely bloody and has had a huge humanitarian impact.”
He also said, “So it catches my attention that, despite this, Mordisco is still saying, ‘stop this, let’s [address the issue], which is the US and its intervention’. So the situation is clear.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter himself, has seized on the threat of a united insurgent front to call for a coordinated effort to “eliminate” drug – trafficking guerrillas.
He said he had invited Venezuela’s new leader, Delcy Rodriguez, to cooperate in eradicating the armed groups.
However, reports of a [something missing in original] involving the US, Colombia, and Venezuela also raise the possibility that the ELN could finally be disbanded after more than 60 years of insurgency.
As previously reported by [something missing in original] Digital, guerrillas now operate along Venezuela’s 2,219 – kilometer border with Colombia and control illegal mining near the Orinoco oil belt.
The [ELN (already defined)], a Colombian Marxist guerrilla group with thousands of fighters and designated as a US – designated terrorist organization, has been operating in Venezuela as a paramilitary force.
Reports suggest that the group is believed to have around 6,000 fighters and controls key cocaine – producing regions, illegal mining operations, and smuggling routes.
Following [something missing in original], the ELN vowed to fight to its “last drop of blood” against what it called the US empire.
Mantilla told the Telegraph, “Today, the main goal of the ELN is not to take power in Colombia or rebuild the Colombian state, but rather to defend the Bolivarian Revolution, because they see themselves as a continental guerrilla [group] since their ideological inspiration is Latin Americanist, so they feel that Venezuela’s struggle is their struggle.”
Angelika Rettberg, a political science professor at the University of the Andes in Colombia, told the outlet, “I think the ELN is currently in a very vulnerable position.”
Ms Rettberg also said, “I also don’t think that even if they can form this unified organization, it would make them less likely to be targeted by a potential US attack.”