Five Colombian Police Officers Released by ELN Rebels

MIAMI - Five members of the Colombian National Police who were taken hostage by rebels from the ELN in Catatumbo, Norte de Santander department on Jan. 6, were released by the group on Monday to the director of the National Police in Cúcuta, as part of a new effort to restart negotiations with the Colombian government.

The ELN, or the National Liberation Army, is Colombia’s most active counterinsurgency group that generates tremendous revenue by engaging in illicit mining activity and criminal drug trafficking operations across the Venezuelan-Colombian border.

The group has an estimated force of roughly 50,000 fighters in its ranks and has clashed with members of the National Police and the Colombian Armed Forces in recent months, killing at least 12 and wounding dozens more since March 2025.

Last week, the ELN issued a public statement expressing a desire to re-engage with the federal government in negotiations and a new strive for a “national accord” after President Gustavo Petro’s departure in August 2026.

The Colombian government severed negotiations with the ELN early last year after the group launched a full-scale assault on the Catatumbo region in clashes with rival rebel groups of FARC dissidents of the 33rd Front.

The ELN’s renewed interest in resuming talks with authorities in Bogotá was also sparked by potential U.S.-Colombian military cooperation to target criminal drug trafficking organizations following the U.S. incursion into Caracas, resulting in the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.