Colombian guerrilla movement the ELN threatens “military action” against politicians in the country’s eastern Arauca department from the parties Cambio Radical and Partido de la U, which support Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, reports Notillano.com Friday.
The ELN sent a letter to Janneth Mantilla, a councillor from Arauquita in the eastern Arauca department, ordering Cambio Radical party members to leave the region, or their lives would be in danger.
Mantilla, who was kidnapped by the ELN and released last week, said the guerrillas had told her they “would kill any person who arrived to the rural area to campaign for parties Cambio Radical and Partido de la U.”
Mantilla said ELN leaders had ordered her to make their threats public.
Cambio Radical and Partido de la U are both part of the pro-Uribe governing coalition. Their respective presidential candidates German Vergas Lleras and Juan Manuel Santos are loyal “uribistas,” and both plan to continue with Uribe’s hardline “democratic security” policy to fight guerrilla insurgency if elected in Colombia’s May presidential election.