Recent from talks
National Liberation Army (Colombia)
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
National Liberation Army (Colombia)
The Camilista Union - National Liberation Army (Spanish: Unión Camilista Ejército de Liberación Nacional, UC-ELN), also known as the National Liberation Army - Camilista Union (Ejército de Liberación Nacional - Unión Camilista, ELN-UC), and originally called the National Liberation Army (ELN), is a Colombian far-left guerrilla organization involved in the continuing Colombian conflict, which has existed in Colombia since 1964. The ELN advocates a composite Catholic communist ideology of Marxism–Leninism, Camilism and Latin American liberation theology. In 2013, it was estimated that the ELN forces consisted of between 1,380 and 3,000 guerrillas. Later, in 2026, its size grew to approximately 5,000 fighters in Colombia and neighboring Venezuela. According to former ELN national directorate member Felipe Torres, one-fifth of ELN supporters have taken up arms. The ELN has been classified as a terrorist organization by the governments of Colombia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the European Union.
The National Liberation Army was founded in 1964, by Fabio Vásquez Castaño and other Colombian rebels trained in Cuba. The group included "urban intellectuals" influenced by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Later, the ELN was headed by a series of Roman Catholic priests, exponents of liberation theology. Most notable was Camilo Torres Restrepo (1929–66), a well-known university professor who was openly critical of what he considered grossly unequal income among the social classes of Colombia. His attraction to the radical ideas of socialism led him to join the ELN, a guerrilla army intent upon affecting the revolutionary praxis of liberation theology among the poor people of Colombia. Father Camilo was killed in his first combat as an ELN guerrilla, and so became the exemplar ELN soldier, to be emulated by ELN guerrillas and other liberation theology priests from the lower ranks of the Roman Catholic priesthood.
In the years following its foundation, it brought together more students and young activists from cities than peasants, a social composition that distinguishes it from the FARC guerrillas, who are essentially peasants.
In the 1970s, after suffering military defeat and internal crises, the ELN was commanded by the Spanish priest Father Manuel Pérez Martínez (1943–98), alias El Cura Pérez, who shared leadership with Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, alias "Gabino". El Cura Pérez presided over the National Liberation Army as one of its most recognized figures until he died of hepatitis B in 1998. He was instrumental in establishing the ideology of the ELN, a composite of Cuban revolutionary theory and liberation theology that proposes the establishment in Colombia of a Christian and communist regime to resolve the socioeconomic problems of chronic political corruption, poverty, and the exclusion of most Colombians from their country's government.
The ELN guerrillas survived the heavy fighting in the Colombian National Army's Operation Anorí (1973–74), and then reconstituted their forces, with partial assistance from the Colombian Government of President Alfonso López Michelsen (1974–78), who allowed the ELN to break from and escape encirclement by the Colombian army. López Michelsen helped the ELN in the hope of initiating peace negotiations with them in order to end the civil war. After this, the ELN resumed financing its military operations by means of kidnap for ransom, the extortion of money from Colombian and foreign petroleum companies and the taxation of the private illegal drug trade of Colombia.
The ELN did not participate in the peace negotiations conducted between the Colombian government of President Andrés Pastrana Arango (1998–2002) and FARC, yet did participate in an exploratory conference about possibly participating in peace negotiations. A Colombian government initiative towards granting the ELN a demilitarized zone in the southern region of the Bolívar Department was thwarted by right-wing political pressure from the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) whose paramilitary mercenaries conduct anti-guerrilla operations in that part of the department.
Peace talks began in 2022, but in August 2024 the Colombian government announced an end to a six-month ceasefire, as the ELN had returned to its practice of kidnapping civilians for ransom.
Previous contacts continued during the early days of the Álvaro Uribe Vélez government but eventually were severed, neither party being fully trusting of the other. Only in mid-2004 did the ELN and the government began to make a series of moves that, with the announced mediation of the Vicente Fox government of Mexico, lead to another round of exploratory talks.
Hub AI
National Liberation Army (Colombia) AI simulator
(@National Liberation Army (Colombia)_simulator)
National Liberation Army (Colombia)
The Camilista Union - National Liberation Army (Spanish: Unión Camilista Ejército de Liberación Nacional, UC-ELN), also known as the National Liberation Army - Camilista Union (Ejército de Liberación Nacional - Unión Camilista, ELN-UC), and originally called the National Liberation Army (ELN), is a Colombian far-left guerrilla organization involved in the continuing Colombian conflict, which has existed in Colombia since 1964. The ELN advocates a composite Catholic communist ideology of Marxism–Leninism, Camilism and Latin American liberation theology. In 2013, it was estimated that the ELN forces consisted of between 1,380 and 3,000 guerrillas. Later, in 2026, its size grew to approximately 5,000 fighters in Colombia and neighboring Venezuela. According to former ELN national directorate member Felipe Torres, one-fifth of ELN supporters have taken up arms. The ELN has been classified as a terrorist organization by the governments of Colombia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the European Union.
The National Liberation Army was founded in 1964, by Fabio Vásquez Castaño and other Colombian rebels trained in Cuba. The group included "urban intellectuals" influenced by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Later, the ELN was headed by a series of Roman Catholic priests, exponents of liberation theology. Most notable was Camilo Torres Restrepo (1929–66), a well-known university professor who was openly critical of what he considered grossly unequal income among the social classes of Colombia. His attraction to the radical ideas of socialism led him to join the ELN, a guerrilla army intent upon affecting the revolutionary praxis of liberation theology among the poor people of Colombia. Father Camilo was killed in his first combat as an ELN guerrilla, and so became the exemplar ELN soldier, to be emulated by ELN guerrillas and other liberation theology priests from the lower ranks of the Roman Catholic priesthood.
In the years following its foundation, it brought together more students and young activists from cities than peasants, a social composition that distinguishes it from the FARC guerrillas, who are essentially peasants.
In the 1970s, after suffering military defeat and internal crises, the ELN was commanded by the Spanish priest Father Manuel Pérez Martínez (1943–98), alias El Cura Pérez, who shared leadership with Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, alias "Gabino". El Cura Pérez presided over the National Liberation Army as one of its most recognized figures until he died of hepatitis B in 1998. He was instrumental in establishing the ideology of the ELN, a composite of Cuban revolutionary theory and liberation theology that proposes the establishment in Colombia of a Christian and communist regime to resolve the socioeconomic problems of chronic political corruption, poverty, and the exclusion of most Colombians from their country's government.
The ELN guerrillas survived the heavy fighting in the Colombian National Army's Operation Anorí (1973–74), and then reconstituted their forces, with partial assistance from the Colombian Government of President Alfonso López Michelsen (1974–78), who allowed the ELN to break from and escape encirclement by the Colombian army. López Michelsen helped the ELN in the hope of initiating peace negotiations with them in order to end the civil war. After this, the ELN resumed financing its military operations by means of kidnap for ransom, the extortion of money from Colombian and foreign petroleum companies and the taxation of the private illegal drug trade of Colombia.
The ELN did not participate in the peace negotiations conducted between the Colombian government of President Andrés Pastrana Arango (1998–2002) and FARC, yet did participate in an exploratory conference about possibly participating in peace negotiations. A Colombian government initiative towards granting the ELN a demilitarized zone in the southern region of the Bolívar Department was thwarted by right-wing political pressure from the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) whose paramilitary mercenaries conduct anti-guerrilla operations in that part of the department.
Peace talks began in 2022, but in August 2024 the Colombian government announced an end to a six-month ceasefire, as the ELN had returned to its practice of kidnapping civilians for ransom.
Previous contacts continued during the early days of the Álvaro Uribe Vélez government but eventually were severed, neither party being fully trusting of the other. Only in mid-2004 did the ELN and the government began to make a series of moves that, with the announced mediation of the Vicente Fox government of Mexico, lead to another round of exploratory talks.
Recent media