The Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) announced a 72-hour “armed strike” in response to President Donald Trump’s “neo-colonial” plan for South America.
The group announced in a social media post that it will prohibit people from traveling on highways or navigable rivers starting tomorrow (Dec 14) until Wednesday morning (Dec 17).
According to the statement, this is a response to US interventionism. Trump has deployed the US’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean, increased the total number of US troops in the region to 15,000, and has killed more than 80 people across 20+ strikes on what he claims are narco-trafficking vessels
Trump unveiled the self-titled ”Trump corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine in last week’s National Security Strategy (NSS): “‘After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence [sic] in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere.”
The ELN’s armed strike is intended as a show of strength, to both domestic rivals and to the US. It demonstrates its ability to control those living in its territory, despite the efforts of the Colombian state.
And it’s a reminder to the US that there is a capable, anti-imperialist guerrilla force that could make life very difficult for any foreign power that tried to operate in Colombia.
The ELN has just shy of 6,000 fighters and controls territories in Chocó ( on the Pacific coast), parts of Arauca, and Catatumbo (near the Venezuelan border). It also contests territorial control in many more parts of Colombia with fellow-guerrilla FARC dissident groups and the country’s largest drug-trafficking organisation, Clan del Golfo.
A “paro,” or armed strike, is a go-to tactic for the ELN. In February of this year, the ELN enforced another 72-hour strike in Chocó to protest what it alleged was collusion between government forces and paramilitary groups in the region.
This followed an earlier “paro” in Chocó in 2024 imposed by the ELN amid dissatisfaction with the state of peace negotiations with the Colombian government.
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