Colombia's president claims that the Sinaloa Cartel, linked with Morena, are the leaders of the ELN guerrilla.
Compartir:
"Don't help me, buddy," they would say ironically around there. The tension in the Latin American region is high due to the presence of international drug cartels in leftist governments.
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, stated on Friday that the Mexican Sinaloa cartel "is the current boss of the ELN." The guerrilla group that recently triggered the worst outbreak of violence in a decade in that country.
Gustavo Petro en su discurso
"The owners of those structures are not Colombian commanders; they are the ones who buy the cocaine of Mexican origin. The Sinaloa cartel is the current boss of the ELN (National Liberation Army)"
stated the leftist leader in a speech in the city of Bucaramanga.
The Colombian government has been leading a military offensive against the rebels on the border with Venezuela since mid-January. This followed a bloody onslaught by the armed group against the civilian population and members of the defunct FARC.
The violent wave has left at least 53 confirmed dead, eight missing, and more than 50,000 displaced.
The epicenter of the violence was a border region known as Catatumbo, which hosts some of the country's areas with the highest concentration of coca leaf crops.
Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional
Colombia is the main producer of that drug in the world. For at least a decade, the links between its armed groups and the Sinaloa cartel, founded by "El Chapo," who is serving a life sentence in the United States, have been known.
The organization is undergoing a process of fragmentation following the capture in July 2024 of its co-founder, El Mayo Zambada.
A power vacuum triggered a war between two factions of the group. This war has resulted in about 750 murders and nearly 900 disappearances in northwestern Mexico since mid-last year.
According to Bogotá councilor Julián Sastoque, a 2023 police report showed very interesting information. Armed organizations in Colombia are establishing international criminal alliances and negotiating with the Sinaloa cartel.
Plantíos de la planta de Coca, Colombia
This alliance would consist of an exchange of precursors to make drugs in return for high-powered weapons.
Since 2022, the ELN had been holding peace negotiations with Petro's government. However, the wave of violence in Catatumbo prompted the leader to suspend the talks. In addition to deploying more than 10,000 soldiers in the area.
