The commander of the National Liberation Army (ELN), Eliécer Erlinto Chamorro Acosta, nicknamed “Antonio García”, accused Colombian President Gustavo Petro this Saturday received extortion money when he was a member of the M-19 partisan detachment. In the eighties.

“Talking about the illegal economy that Gustavo Petro likes to talk about, I remember that in the mid-1980s, when he was just the regional head of M-19 in Santander (northeast), “He asked us to take over some of the taxes that the ANO collected from transport,” the partisan leader spoke out on social networks

He added: “Indeed, we took it and we give them a “ticket” to collect tax. He and his troops spent that “ticket” on drinking and partying rather than fighting. Of course, in the following months we had to reduce this contribution to the party.”

In this regard, the government delegation that is negotiating with the rebels assured in a statement that it is “unacceptable” that Garcia, in the face of the “internal crisis” that the armed group is experiencing, “leads to the path of insult and aggression as a way to distract from the lack of definitions of the world.”

“We repeat once again to the ANO that today everything depends on them. fulfill its commitment to stop kidnapping for economic purposes, consolidate public participation in peacebuilding; and, above all, to decide not to continue wasting time on endless dialogues and to see whether we are moving seriously and quickly towards peace as a path to transformation,” the information added.

Dialogues in crisis

ANO reported this on Monday. “stopped” the suspension of kidnappings for economic purposesgiven that the executive failed to comply with the conditions for the creation of a “multi-donor fund for the peace process”, to which the government responded that the “elimination” of this crime was not negotiable with the state.

You might be interested > ELN militants will resume kidnappings in Colombia

The government and guerrillas announced last December: in the fifth negotiation cycle, held in Mexico City, that this armed group will stop kidnapping for economic purposes.

It is expected that government and ANO delegations meet in Caracas from May 20 to 25 sign a new agreement as part of the peace talks they resumed in November 2022, but it is unknown what will happen after the ELN decision to resume kidnappings.

(EFE)