Colombia’s ELN released five police officers it had kidnapped during the first week of January, as it pushed for a “national accord” to overcome political conflicts in the South American country, the Associated Press reported Monday.
The AP said the police officers were taken hostage on Jan. 6 while they were off duty and traveling in a bus in the northeastern Catatumbo region.
In a social media post Monday, Colombia’s national agency for the defense of human rights shared photos of fighters in camouflage releasing the officers and said they were in good health, according to the report.
The Human Rights Defender’s Office also called for further releases, saying on X: “We call on armed groups to immediately free all of those who have been deprived of their liberty.”
The episode unfolded against a backdrop of stalled negotiations. The AP said peace talks between the Marxist ELN and Colombia’s government were suspended last year after the ELN launched an offensive in Catatumbo that forced more than 50,000 people to flee their homes.
The AP reported that last week the ELN said that after elections in Colombia this year it would like to work with the nation’s new government to design agreements aimed at defeating poverty, protecting ecosystems and “overcoming” the drug trade in rural areas.
President Gustavo Petro replied, telling the AP that ELN leadership has to give up drug trafficking and recruiting minors if it wants peace talks to resume.
The AP said the ELN has been accused of profiting from the drug trade and of blowing up oil pipelines in eastern Colombia. It also said the group, founded in the early 1960s, was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department in 1997.
The report added that Colombia and the United States recently discussed possible joint actions against the ELN in a phone call, with Interior Minister Armando Benedetti saying the call helped dissipate tensions between the countries.
The AP also said the ELN has stated it is willing to unite with other rebel groups in Colombia to fend off attacks from the United States.