The guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) have been holding two Colombian soldiers, captured in the Arauca municipality of Tame, for a week and have announced that they will be released «in the next few days», warning that any rescue operation could put them in danger.
The «prisoners of war» are soldiers Luifer Mejía and Fernando Urrego, who according to the Colombian Army were captured when «they were moving in civilian clothes and in a state of defenselessness», a «repudiatory act» that supposes «a violation of Human Rights» and a «serious crime against humanity».
For its part, the Eastern War Front of the ELN has indicated that «the prisoners of war» will be treated «according to the current conditions of war» and that «in the next few days they will be released to Human Rights organizations».
At the same time, the guerrilla has warned in a communiqué that «any offensive rescue action will put the lives of the prisoners at risk» and is not responsible, therefore, for «any fatal outcome» that could occur.
The ELN’s announcement comes a day after Colombian authorities reported the arrest of Carlos Alberto Ramirez, alias ‘El Viejo’, one of the guerrillas’ top commanders who was presumed dead last year.
The department of Arauca, bordering Venezuela, is one of the areas with the greatest presence of these armed groups, in constant dispute for the logistical and economic benefits offered by drug trafficking and other illegal markets thanks to the particularities of this region.
In Arauca there is an open war between the ELN and the 1st Front, the main dissidence of the now defunct FARC guerrilla, which in turn is in confrontation with the 2nd Marquetalia, now weaker after the casualties of leaders such as Henry Castellanos, alias ‘Romaña’, and Hernán Darío Velásquez, alias ‘El Paisa’, or the convalescent Luciano Marín Arango, alias ‘Iván Márquez’.
