<\/p>\n
Colombia\u2019s ELN guerrilla group has ordered civilians in areas under its control to stay home for three days starting on Sunday, while it carries out military exercises in response to \u201cintervention\u201d threats from Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump said earlier this month any country that produces cocaine<\/a> and sells it to the United States was \u201csubject to attack\u201d.<\/p>\n The ELN, the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas<\/a>, controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia and vowed on Friday to fight for the country\u2019s \u201cdefense\u201d in the face of Trump\u2019s \u201cthreats of imperialist intervention\u201d.<\/p>\n It urged civilians in areas it controls to stay indoors for 72 hours starting 6am on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is necessary for civilians not to mix with fighters to avoid accidents,\u201d the group said in a statement.<\/p>\n Tensions in the surrounding region have grown in recent months, as the US has ramped up pressure<\/a> on Venezuela\u2019s leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, putting a $50m bounty on his head and ordering a massive military buildup in the Caribbean \u2013 as well as a series of deadly airstrikes on alleged narco vessels, killing more than 80 people<\/a>.<\/p>\n With a force of about 5,800 combatants, the ELN \u2013 the Spanish acronym for National Liberation Army \u2013 is present in more than a fifth of Colombia\u2019s 1,100-plus municipalities, according to the Insight Crime research center.<\/p>\n It has also built a growing presence in neighbouring Venezuela, where it is present in eight of the country\u2019s 24 states, expanding its finances, territorial control and political influence, the thinktank found in a recent report.<\/p>\n \u201cThe growth of the ELN and the survival of the Maduro regime are now connected. So long as Maduro remains in power, the favored position that the ELN enjoys in Venezuela seems likely to continue. Similarly, the Maduro regime now has its survival, in part, linked to the growing strength of the ELN,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n The ELN has taken part in failed peace negotiations with Colombia\u2019s last five governments.<\/p>\n Two years of peace talks with the government of incumbent Gustavo Petro \u2013 Colombia\u2019s first ever leftist president \u2013 were suspended after the rebels intensified armed attacks in parts of the country.<\/p>\n While professing to be driven by leftist, nationalist ideology, the ELN is deeply involved in the drug trade and has become one of the region\u2019s most powerful organized crime groups.<\/p>\n It vies for territory and control of lucrative coca plantations and trafficking routes with dissident fighters that refused to lay down arms when the FARC guerrilla army disarmed under a 2016 peace deal.<\/p>\n Colombia is the world\u2019s top cocaine producer, according to the UN.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Colombian #rebels #warn #civilians #military #drills #imperialist #Trump #threats #Colombia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Colombia\u2019s ELN guerrilla group… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}