Colombian guerrillas say open to talks with new leftist president

Colombia's last recognized guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), said Monday it was ready to reopen peace talks with the government after Gustavo Petro was elected the country's first leftist president.

Petro, a former guerrilla himself, beat millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernandez in Sunday's presidential election runoff to make history in the crisis-wracked South American country.

On the campaign trail, he had vowed to negotiate with the ELN if he won.

Peace talks with the ELN had been started under former president Juan Manuel Santos (2010-18) but were broken off by his successor Ivan Duque after the rebels detonated a car bomb at a police academy in Bogota in 2019, killing 22 people.

The ELN's central command said it was "keeping its system of political and military struggle and resistance active, but also maintaining its clear availability to advance the peace process."

The ELN urged the new government to make the necessary "changes for a Colombia in peace."

Duque had demanded that the ELN end its attacks on citizens and the security forces in order to reopen talks, but the rebels refused.

The ELN has 2,500 fighters, according to official data.

It is mostly financed by drug trafficking and relies on an extensive network of support in urban centers, especially on the Pacific coast and the border with Venezuela.

Formed in 1964 following the Cuban revolution, the ELN held talks with another four previous governments, without those ever leading to peace.