Colombia’s Petro, Trump agree to ‘joint action’ against ELN along Venezuela border after first call, minister says
BOGOTA — Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump to take “joint action” against the National Liberation Army (ELN) along the Venezuelan border after the two leaders held their first phone call, Colombia’s interior minister said.
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Interior Minister Armando Benedetti told Blu Radio that Petro and Trump used the conversation to de-escalate tensions and align on confronting the ELN, Colombia’s last remaining major guerrilla group, which Bogota accuses of cross-border attacks and kidnappings before retreating to safe havens inside Venezuela.
“They must be attacked in their rear as well as on Colombian soil,” Benedetti said, describing the plan as a coordinated push that would target ELN operations on both sides of the 2,200-kilometer frontier. He did not disclose a timeline or operational details.
The call followed days of escalating rhetoric after Trump threatened military action against Colombia following the ouster of Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. The two countries, long-time security partners, have seen relations fray since Trump began his second term last January.
Petro, who took office in 2022 promising to end Colombia’s long-running internal conflict, opened peace talks with the ELN soon after entering the presidency. Those negotiations have since stalled, and violence from the group has persisted, particularly in remote border regions where armed factions compete for revenues from cocaine trafficking, illegal mining and contraband smuggling.
Benedetti said the call signaled a reset after a bitter public exchange in recent days, during which Trump labeled Petro a drug trafficker and Petro vowed to take up arms against any U.S. assault on Colombian territory. The minister said the leaders agreed to focus on security coordination and that Petro accepted Trump’s invitation for a meeting in Washington.
Colombia has long accused the ELN of carrying out ambushes and kidnappings of Colombian soldiers and then withdrawing to rear-base locations across the border in Venezuela. The porous, sparsely governed frontier has made coordinated law-enforcement and military efforts difficult, and both countries have struggled to suppress the illicit economies that sustain armed groups.
Security cooperation between Washington and Bogota has spanned decades, including extensive U.S. support for counter-narcotics and counterinsurgency operations. But strategic alignment has been strained under Trump’s second term amid disagreements over regional policy and human rights concerns tied to hard-security approaches.
Benedetti said the new joint effort would aim to disrupt ELN mobility and financing networks that allow the group to stage attacks in Colombia and regroup in Venezuela. He framed the plan as complementing Petro’s broader “total peace” agenda, even as talks remain frozen.
The presidential meeting in Washington is expected to set the scope of cooperation against the ELN and could revive broader bilateral security mechanisms. Neither government immediately provided specifics on timing or legal frameworks for any cross-border operations.
Petro’s office did not issue an immediate readout of the call. The White House also had no immediate comment on the minister’s account.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
