National Liberation Army — De Facto Map

National Liberation Army — Guerrilla · Colombia and Venezuela · Colombia's oldest insurgency.

The National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN): a Marxist guerrilla founded in 1964 by students inspired by the Cuban revolution and joined by radical priests, the last of Colombia's Cold War insurgencies still at war. In March 2026 it had 3,468 armed combatants and 2,982 people in its support networks, in Arauca and Catatumbo on the Venezuelan border, the south of Bolívar, Chocó and the Pacific coast, and in Cauca and Nariño; across the border, Venezuela's Apure and Amazonas states are its rear guard. Talks with the Petro government broke down in January 2025, when its offensive on FARC dissidents in Catatumbo killed some 80 people and drove out more than 50,000. In October 2026 President de la Espriella ordered a "total offensive" against it, with airstrikes in Nariño.