The ELN’s central command wrote a letter to the secretariat of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), welcoming the decision to appoint ‘Alfonso Cano’ as the successor of ‘Marulanda’ and proposing cooperation to overcome “the difficulties we are experiencing in today’s Colombian insurgent movement”.
The letter invites to clear the disputes the illegal armed groups have in several parts of the country, mostly about the control of the cocaine producing areas.
The ELN reminds their fellow rebels of a letter the late ‘Marulanda’ wrote to the ELN’s number one, Nicolás ‘Gabino’ Rodríguez Bautista in 2005. “If we are talking to our enemies, why don’t we also talk ourselves like fighters for the same cause, even though we use different methods in our revolutionary work,” ‘Tirofijo’ wrote in the letter.
The letter is unclear about the wishes of the ELN to join the FARC in battle or to team up for a political solution of the country’s decade long violent conflict.