US drones join the hunt for Colombia’s deadliest guerrilla group as Venezuela switches sides

Venezuela’s turn into the U.S. fold after the capture of former dictator Nicolas Maduro has overturned the fight against the National Liberation Army, which long used the country as its haven.The ELN has emerged as Colombia’s and Latin America’s largest left-wing guerrilla group, helped along by the tolerance of Maduro and the vacuum left by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. It long relied on bases in Venezuela, to which it would retreat after launching attacks on Colombian security forces. The period of uncertainty after Maduro’s fall regarding this arrangement was broken dramatically last month, when Venezuela launched a strike on an ELN camp using U.S. drones and intelligence, killing 19 people.The human rights group FundaRedes described the bombing as Venezuela’s first against an ELN camp since Hugo Chavez took power in 1999. The United States has remained silent on the strike, but the organization has been targeted in public rhetoric by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.“Imagine a criminal gang operating from territory across the border, entering your country, committing crimes, murders, and attacks, and then returning to hide in another country,” Rubio said in September after meeting with Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella. “That is not sustainable. We have to address this situation.”Jason Marczak, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, rejected the ELN’s popular characterization as a left-wing guerrilla group.“They’re not a guerrilla group,” he told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “They’re criminal. … Long gone are the days of groups like the ELN being guerrillas seeking to have some type of broader policy change. They’re just there to terrorize the population, profit illegally, and to do harm.”Though he said there is “no one-stop approach” for dismantling the group, Marczak identified denying it safe haven as a key element in countering it and identified the Oct. 30 strike as an important signal of the trilateral cooperation among the U.S., Colombia, and Venezuela.COLOMBIA AND BOLIVIA ‘FAILED DEMONSTRABLY’ TO COUNTER ILLEGAL DRUG PRODUCTIONSergio Guzmán, director of Colombia Risk Analysis, a Bogotá-based political risk consultancy, explained that given the ELN’s use of Venezuela as a “rear door,” the attacks from both sides of the border can create a “nice little sandwich effect,” applying “more effective” pressure.Colombian forces have focused their offensive efforts against ELN targets since de la Espriella took power on Aug. 7 and are reaping results. Colombian Defense Ministry figures from the president’s first 90 days showed a more than 12-fold increase in deaths compared to former Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s first 90 days. Nearly 300 ELN personnel have been killed, captured, or surrendered by Colombian forces alone.