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The ELN steps up its use of explosives, again.

Today (July 15), explosives reportedly belonging to the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) were left on a road in the San Pedro neighborhood of Cúcuta, blocking traffic until an explosives disposal unit could safely remove them.

Two days earlier, an explosion damaged a section of the Caño Limón–Coveñas oil pipeline near Saravena, temporarily disrupting the flow of oil. Although no group claimed the attack, security sources blamed the ELN.

Three days before that, a mule rigged with explosives went off near a military patrol in Valdivia, Antioquia, killing one soldier. Authorities also blamed the ELN.

These events are far from isolated. The ELN is increasingly turning to explosives as a primary tool for disruption.

From July 5 to 7th, the ELN reportedly conducted ten drone strikes near the municipality of El Tarra in Catatumbo, allegedly targeting rival FARC dissident groups.

A similar attack took place on May 15 in  Tibú, where an explosive drone struck a civilian home, killing a 12-year-old boy. Two days earlier, another drone had detonated over a military patrol in Teorama, killing a soldier. 

Over 12 hours on February 20th, five explosive devices went off near police posts in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander. The ELN claimed responsibility for the attacks as a response to state counterinsurgency operations. 

In January, the ELN carried out three explosive operations in Arauca. The Colombian Army discovered sticks of dynamite planted along the Tame-Arauca highway, the ELN detonated an explosive device near a military convoy travelling through Saravena, and finally, officials disarmed a remote-controlled IED with 88lbs of explosive materials near Tame.

The ELN’s increased use of explosives is part of a worrying trend. The use of explosive has become more and more common, especialy IEDs and remote controlled drones rigged with explosives.

Strategically, explosives offer a way for criminal groups to harrass military patrols without risking their own lives. IEDs and drones can be especially effective tools for weaker groups like the ELN to wound more powerful adversaries (like the military or Clan del Golfo (CdG)) without a direct confrontation they would likely lose.

And so the use of explosives has become more widespread.

In a major operation in January, the Colombian miliary uncovered more than 2,600 improvised explosive devices such as landmines and roadside bombs in Catatumbo. Athorities attribute the cache to the ELN.

Its interesting that this number of explosives were discovered in Catatumbo, which is the epicentre of territorial disputes between the ELN and Clan del Golfo on the Colombian border with Venezuela. 

In fact all of these incidents took place in the areas of major territorial contest between the ELN and Clan del Golfo – Norte de Santander on the Venezuelan border, the Bajo Cauca region of Antioquia, and Arauca. 

This part is very much my opinion because this is a blog. The fact that these insidents are clustered around territorial disputes with Clan del Golfo suggests to me that this is a strategic decision driven by the fact that the ELN is facing much stronger adversaries in both the Clan del Golfo and the military in these areas. 

We might start to think of the ELN and the FARC dissidents with which they are allied as an insurgency against a much more dominant player (Clan del Golfo).

Its worth noting that a lot of these incidents are ELN attacks on the military and not strictly on Clan del Golfo.

Another important caveat is that we are associating many of these attacks with the ELN rather than other cirminal groups because authorities are pinning them on the ELN. I do not know why they are making this assumption, perhaps they have very good intelligence I am not privy to. 

It is possible that authorities are drawing this conclusion because the ELN has a history of blowing up oil pipelines, explosives are kind of a modus operandi. If so, there is a decent chance the assumption is incorrect and some of these cases should rather be attributed to other groups. 

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