Colombia's ELN guerrilla group announced it would observe a unilateral ceasefire through the Christmas and New Year holidays, in an abrupt shift from recent deadly attacks on the military.
The group's leadership has ordered "all its members not to carry out offensive military operations against the state armed forces" from December 24 through January 3, an ELN statement said on Sunday.
On Friday, Colombia's army announced that seven soldiers had been killed and 30 injured when the ELN attacked a military base near Venezuela with drones and explosives the previous night.
Founded in 1964 and inspired by the Cuban revolution, the ELN or National Liberation Army is the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas, and controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia.
The Thursday night attack on the rural military outpost in Aguachica, near the border with Venezuela, was the second deadly clash with security forces in a week. Two police officers were killed Tuesday in Cali.
While negotiations between President Gustavo Petro's government and the ELN have been stalled since last year, tensions have soared in recent weeks following the guerrilla group's reaction to remarks by US President Donald Trump.
‘Threats of imperialist intervention’
Trump warned recently that Colombia could be "next," following his pressure campaign against Venezuela and its leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.
The ELN, estimated to be present in over a fifth of Colombia's 1,100-plus municipalities, vowed last week to fight for Colombia's "defence" in the face of US "threats of imperialist intervention."
This week, it declared a lockdown of civilians in areas it controls and threatened law enforcement.
Colombian rights ombudswoman Iris Marin said she welcomed ELN's announced truce "with some relief, but also with anguish."
The ELN's actions have caused "sustained damage to the civilian population," she said on X.
She also called for the group to extend its ceasefire "to hostilities with other armed groups," which it fights for control of drug trafficking.
