BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia on Wednesday suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, after blaming the rebel group for an attack that killed two soldiers and injured more than 20.
“Today the dialogue process is suspended," said the government’s peace delegation in a statement. "Its viability is severely damaged, and its continuity can only be recovered with an unequivocal manifestation of the ELN’s will for peace.”
This is the deepest crisis of the peace negotiations with the ELN since November 2022 and after President Gustavo Petro took power as the first leftist president launching talks with that and other armed groups under a policy known as total peace.
The National Liberation Army, or ELN, ended a cease-fire with the Colombian government in August, but was still involved in peace talks aimed at ending more than five decades of conflict.
The army said Tuesday that the group fired homemade rockets from a cargo truck that had been parked near a base in Puerto Jordan, a small town in Arauca province.
The rebel group has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
The ELN was founded in the 1960s by union leaders and university students inspired by the Cuban Revolution. The group has an estimated 6,000 fighters in Colombia and Venezuela and finances itself through drug trafficking and illegal gold mines.
Recently the ELN has been spreading into rural areas abandoned by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the large rebel group that made a peace deal with Colombia’s government in 2016.
The attack on Tuesday left two soldiers killed and 26 wounded, according to the latest report from Defense Minister Iván Velásquez.
Most of the wounded were airlifted to a military hospital in Bogotá, Colombia's capital, where Petro visited them on Wednesday. According to the hospital’s medical report, 13 remain hospitalized in “stable condition,” most with soft tissue injuries, while five are in the intensive care unit.
Authorities announced on Wednesday a reward of up to $23,700 for information leading to the capture of those responsible for the attack. They also confirmed a reward of up to $948,000 for the main leaders of the ELN.
Petro compared the attack in Arauca to another carried out by the ELN in 2019 against a police school in Bogotá that killed 22 people died and dozens injured. That assault led also to the suspension of the peace talks of the rebel group with the government of Iván Duque, president from 2018 to 2022.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Colombia suspends peace talks with ELN rebel group after a deadly attack on the military
Colombia suspends peace talks with ELN rebel group after a deadly attack on the military
FILE - Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks after signing a law banning bullfighting, in La Plaza Santa Maria, Bogota, Colombia, on July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Radko Gudas has been named the first captain of the Anaheim Ducks since Ryan Getzlaf's retirement two seasons ago.
The Ducks made the announcement on the first day of training camp Thursday.
Gudas joined Anaheim a year ago as a free agent. The 34-year-old Czech defenseman had six goals, 12 assists and 128 penalty minutes last season while providing badly needed veteran leadership for the Ducks' talented young core.
Gudas is the ninth captain in Ducks history. He is their first European captain since Teemu Selanne, who served as co-captain with Paul Kariya during the 1997-98 season.
The Ducks spent the past two seasons without a captain for the first time in team history following the retirement of Getzlaf, who had been their captain for 12 seasons since 2010. The playmaking center was by far Anaheim’s longest-serving captain.
Anaheim went with a series of alternate captains instead for the past two seasons, most prominently veteran defenseman Cam Fowler, who has been with the Ducks for his entire NHL career since 2010.
Gudas’ appointment by general manager Pat Verbeek and second-year head coach Greg Cronin establishes a more traditional leadership structure for the Ducks, who have missed the playoffs in six consecutive seasons, the longest drought in team history.
“Radko emerged as a natural leader who encompasses all of the qualities of a captain and the respect of his teammates, our staff and his peers,” Verbeek said in a statement. “With a young group of players establishing themselves in the NHL, we felt it was necessary to have a veteran lead our team. Radko exemplifies what it means to be a professional, how to carry yourself on and off the ice and in the community, and be a mentor to our young group that will become the next leaders of the team.”
The Ducks are the fifth NHL team for Gudas, who moved to North America as a teenager. He also won a gold medal with the Czech Republic at the world championships this summer.
Early in his career with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, Gudas had a reputation as a feisty defenseman who regularly delivered questionable hits leading to league scrutiny and condemnation from opponents. Gudas has matured during his years in the NHL, making more recent stops in Washington and Florida before he joined the Ducks.
Anaheim lost a franchise-record 50 games in regulation last season while finishing seventh in the Pacific Division. The Ducks haven't finished higher than sixth in the division since 2018, the year of their last playoff appearance.
Gudas is the sixth player from the Czech Republic to be named an NHL captain. He joins Peter Stastny (Quebec, 1985-90), Jaromir Jagr (Pittsburgh, 1998-01, and New York Rangers, 2006-08), Patrik Elias (New Jersey, 2006-07), Bobby Holik (Atlanta, 2007-08) and Milan Hejduk (Colorado, 2011-12).
The Ducks open the regular season Oct. 12 at San Jose. Their home opener is Oct. 16 against Utah.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
FILE - Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas (7) looks on in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche, Dec. 5, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
