Eln and FARC dissidents are behind vandalism in Bogotá – Investigative Unit

“September 22, 2020. This is Commander Uriel of the Eln Western War Front. We salute the mobilizations that have taken place in various cities (…). The uprisings and riots have not been motivated by different groups opposed to the Government. Our urban militancy participates in them as one more (…). Let’s put an end to the torture and death centers called CAI (…).

The audio of alias Uriel lasts 2 minutes and 17 seconds, but they were enough for the Duque government to accumulate it to the evidence that the Eln participated in the excesses of the nights of September 9 and 10, after the brutal death of citizen Javier Ordonez.

(We invite you to read: The audio in which the attack on Bogotá in the south and on Rosales was planned)

The presence of the ELN in those days had become a new point of contention between the Government and the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, who assured that there was no evidence of their participation in those violent days.

(You may be interested: ‘Behind the destruction of CAI there is an Eln plan and FARC dissidents’)

But beyond the political pulse, security analysts and intelligence officials agree that we must immediately decipher what the ELN is looking for, going from the bombing to the Santander General School (in January 2019, leaving 22 dead) to the promarchas speech and to the call to the “popular combat”, of which Uriel alias speaks.

The tribes’

In fact, the Government accepts that – as they have requested from different shores – a differentiation is made between the infiltration of the Eln and dissidents and the causes of legitimate protest, such as police brutality, the repeal of Decree 1174 on hourly pay and the return from the massacres.

(It could be of interest to you: Eln and the burning of CAI: the new friction between the mayor and the Government)

In fact, security expert Néstor Rosanía draws attention to the fact that the so-called ‘urban tribes’ or hooded tribes – such as ‘Anarkos’, ‘Anti-Facists’ and ‘Anti-imperialists’ – also participated in the riots, which, according to him, did not they have nothing to do with the ELN or the dissidents.

In 10 cities

But once these differences have been settled, security and defense consultants, such as John Marulanda and Daniel Mejía, point out that it is unquestionable that the ELN is capitalizing on the protest in their favor to try to destabilize the government. In fact, before ‘Uriel’ came out to claim the participation of the militias in acts of violence, state intelligence agencies revealed documents of that guerrilla that declared the cities as their objective.

(In addition: They capture 4 indicated funders of vandalism in Bogotá)

“The Central Command has issued orders for its clandestine structures to participate in mobilizations and protests, to generate a crisis of governance,” says an intelligence official.

And he adds that in the scheme of popular uprisings, the role of the so-called National Urban War Front is key: “It develops its criminal activity in the ten cities in which it had been implanted since 2006: Bogotá, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Bucaramanga , Barrancabermeja, Medellín, Cali, Popayán and Neiva. There is information on the extension of this front in other cities such as Santa Marta, Manizales, Ocaña, Aguachica, Arauca, Pereira, Valledupar, Ibagué, Tunja, Puerto Carreño, Quibdó and Pasto ”.

The 5 police officers killed and 27 injured after the bombing of a police station in Barranquilla (in January 2018) and the 26 police officers injured in La Macarena (2017) are just two examples of the offensive.

(It could be of your interest: What the 6 photos show about the death of Javier Ordóñez)

“The bomb in the Andino (June 2017) was executed by ‘Llamarada’ and the MRP, a cell linked to the ELN. One of its noted members was found a letter where he talks about a trip to Cuba where he was supposedly trained in the use of explosives, ”Marulanda emphasizes.

Central Command Guidelines

The former Secretary of Security of Bogotá, Daniel Mejía, recalls that the MRP committed 14 attacks in the capital. That is why he does not doubt that these cells are behind the vandalism organized in the recent protest events.

(Also: the State never turned money to bury the dead from the Andean)

Government sources emphasize the so-called ‘Letter to the Militancy’, signed by Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, alias Gabino, from Cuba, at the end of 2019, when the protests in Chile and Ecuador rose in temperature.

“At this time, the important rise of the masses in the continent invites us to become infected with them and to exercise our militant being with greater height (…). The examples of struggle in Ecuador and Chile call us to reflection. The situation in the country gives us the opportunity to risk it so as not to be inferior to the reality of mobilization and struggle of the present and the immediate future, ”says the guideline.

(Another related topic: The 29 men of Nicolás Maduro who stalk Colombia)

And in yet another, in 2016, during the ‘Second Military Conference’, they began to speak of the ‘Regional War with Urban Centrality’ to raise the level of confrontation in cities and generate “an insurrectionary moment.”

Néstor Rosanía says that although the ELn has been in Bogotá since the 70s, its militias “only do intelligence, logistics and indoctrination tasks: they are not operational.”

CAI and dissent

But John Marulanda assures that they are receiving extra help from men from Venezuela’s Sebín intelligence service, and even from Cuban intelligence.
And although the operations of the FARC dissidents are concentrated on the borders (especially those of alias Gentil Duarte), the Dijín and the Prosecutor’s Office revealed evidence of their presence in Bogotá, after the capture of four people identified as being part of an urban cell (see attached note).

(We invite you to read: Farc dissidents double their number of men in just 12 months)

The boss is identified as ‘Martín’, imprisoned in Cómbita for extortion, kidnapping and other crimes. In audios he can be heard reading a message from the column ‘Jaime Martínez’, from Cauca: “The ‘Jaime Martínez’ and the ‘Dagoberto Ramos’ are a lethal problem (…). The tenth and other fronts we are uniting and they are going to disappear ”.

And one of the four detainees was recorded talking about destruction in CAI: “Yesterday we inaugurated the popular library of Teusaquillo, the CAI of La Soledad … which was accidentally burned by some vandals, some tombos.” And your interlocutor says: “For you.”

(Also: New ‘ear pull’ from the Government to Mayor Claudia López)

Those captured denied charges and for some its scope – if true – was very limited.

“That is the job of the authorities, to dismantle structures before they do more damage to the country,” an intelligence officer responds.

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