Colombia on Wednesday suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, after blaming the rebel group for an attack that killed two soldiers and injured more than 20.
"Today the dialogue process is suspended," said the government's peace delegation in a statement. "Its viability is severely damaged, and its continuity can only be recovered with an unequivocal manifestation of the ELN's will for peace."
This is the deepest crisis of the peace negotiations with the ELN since November 2022 and after President Gustavo Petro took power as the first leftist president launching talks with that and other armed groups under a policy known as total peace .
The National Liberation Army, or ELN, ended a cease-fire with the Colombian government in August, but was still involved in peace talks aimed at ending more than five decades of conflict.
The army said Tuesday that the group fired homemade rockets from a cargo truck that had been parked near a base in Puerto Jordan, a small town in Arauca province.
