Colombia's largest guerrilla group supports pact to fight the United States

(Patria) - The commander of Colombia's largest guerrilla group has supported calls for warring leftist militias to unite to repel any US military operations in the country.

"If it is about defending the homeland from aggression, we will join the fight", said ELN leader Antonio Garcia to AFP, responding to calls for factions to unite.

Donald Trump, after ousting Nicolas Maduro from the presidency in Venezuela, suggested that US forces could next turn their weapons on targets in Colombia. Trump claimed that Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, was not doing enough to stop drug trafficking to the United States.

The ELN, an alleged leftist rebel force of 6,000 people, is also one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Latin America. It controls part of the border region of Colombia and Venezuela and, before Maduro's ousting, had close ties to Caracas.

Colombian intelligence sources claim that Garcia himself lived in Venezuela until recently. After Maduro's ousting, many guerrilla leaders are believed to have returned to Colombia.

United front

Other Colombian guerrilla groups reacted angrily to Maduro's removal from power, claiming it was an American colonialist conspiracy.

Ivan Mordisco, Colombia's most wanted rebel, who leads his own dissident group, called for a pact of unity to repel an attack from the United States.

"We know we have had disagreements in the past... but today we face a common enemy" in the United States, said Mordisco, leader of the remnants of the dissolved FARC armed movement, which is believed to have rear bases in Venezuela.

"We urgently call you to a summit of rebel commanders from Colombia and all of our Americas", he said in a video sent to the media.

"Let's create a great rebel front to push back our enemies."
In a message from hiding, Garcia told AFP that his group would be ready to fight US forces.

The ELN "does what it must at each stage of the struggle", he said.

Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said the guerrillas are seeking unity because the "threat of lethal action" against them is now greater. Under intense pressure from Washington and after a series of personal clashes with Trump, Colombian President Gustavo Petro agreed to "joint action" against the ELN and other drug traffickers.

Trump once told Petro, who is himself a former guerrilla, to "watch himself" and imposed sanctions on the Colombian president and his family.

But after a groundbreaking phone call, Trump will host him at the White House in February.

Colombia accuses the ELN of carrying out attacks and kidnappings of Colombian soldiers and retreating to rear bases in Venezuela.

Attacks on land targets in Colombia would signal an expansion of Trump's military operations against alleged drug traffickers.

Since September, US forces are believed to have killed more than a hundred people in attacks on alleged drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Colombia and Venezuela share a porous border 2,200 kilometers long, where various armed groups fight for control over drug trafficking profits, illegal mining, and smuggling.

Washington and Bogota have enjoyed security cooperation for decades, but ties have deteriorated since Trump began his second term last January.