International
The Government of Colombia clarifies that the dialogue with the ELN guerrillas “is suspended” after the attack
The Government of Colombia confirmed on Wednesday that the peace dialogue with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) “is suspended” after the attack by that armed group against an Army military base in the department of Arauca, in the east of the country, which left two dead and 27 injured.
The Government delegation at the dialogue table clarified in this way what was said on Tuesday night by President Gustavo Petro, who declared that the attack “closes a peace process with blood.”
“During these months the Government has sent multiple proposals to the ELN. Today the dialogue process is suspended. Its viability is severely damaged, and its continuity can only be recovered with an unequivocal manifestation of the will for peace of the ELN,” the delegation added in a statement, which did not completely close the door to the process.
In the letter they also expressed their “absolute rejection of the attack perpetrated by the ELN on the military base of Puerto Jordán, Arauca” and showed their condolences to the families of the victims “in the face of this new act of violence that claims the lives of young Colombians.”
The Colombian Government and the ELN restarted in November 2022 in Caracas the peace negotiations with the last major Latin American guerrilla that, however, stagnated at the beginning of this year due to the demands of the ELN that the Executive remove them from the list of terrorist groups and abandon the regional dialogue it maintains in the department of Nariño (southwest) with Comuneros del Sur, supposedly split from the ELN.
During the various cycles of negotiations in Caracas, Havana and Mexico City, the parties reached several partial agreements and agreed on a one-year bilateral ceasefire, the longest maintained with that guerrilla, which ended on August 3, after which the ELN resumed its attacks against public force and infrastructure in different parts of the country, especially in Arauca, where it is particularly strong.
Petro compared Tuesday’s attack to the attack on the Colombian Police Cadet School in Bogotá, which in January 2019 left 20 dead and 68 injured, including an Ecuadorian cadet, and which put an end to the dialogue that the Government was having with that guerrilla at that time.
“And obviously, as happened that time in another place near here, at the Police School, because many police officers died, ensigns who were studying there, because it is practically an action that closes a peace process with blood,” he added.
On that occasion, the government of Iván Duque broke off peace negotiations with the guerrillas.
Tuesday’s attack was at the Puerto Jordán military base, in Arauca (east), which “was attacked with improvised explosive devices launched from a dump mantip.”
According to figures provided by the Ministry of Defense, 27 soldiers were injured, “of which 20 have splinters” and seven are “seriously injured.” Two of the injured died on Tuesday night.
The violent escalation of the ELN left two soldiers dead last Sunday in a rural area of Tame (Arauca) and also includes attacks on the Caño Limón-Coveñas and Bicentenario pipelines, two of the most important in the country.
The Caño Limón-Coveñas pipeline, 770 kilometers long, transports oil from the Arauca wells to Coveñas, a Colombian port in the Caribbean Sea.
International
Meta Says Russia Seeks to Ban WhatsApp for Defending Secure Communication
U.S. tech giant Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, said that Russia is seeking to ban the messaging app because it “challenges government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication.”
Russian authorities have encouraged citizens to switch to state-backed applications, and in August they already blocked WhatsApp’s calling feature.
On Friday, the communications regulator Roskomnadzor claimed that the platform was being used to “organize and carry out terrorist acts in the country, recruit perpetrators, and facilitate fraud and other crimes.”
“If the messaging service does not comply with Russian law, it will be completely blocked,” the regulator warned.
WhatsApp remains one of Russia’s most widely used messaging services, alongside Telegram.
Moscow is pressuring both platforms to grant authorities access to user data upon request for investigations into fraud and activities the government labels as “terrorist.”
Human rights advocates fear the demand could be used to target critics of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin, or the war in Ukraine.
International
Archbishop Wenski criticizes Trump’s deportation policies, calls for stronger push for reform
The Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, has called for increased pressure on the U.S. Congress to advance comprehensive immigration reform and criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies, arguing that they “do nothing to help.”
“We need to apply more pressure on Congress so lawmakers can make the necessary changes. It is also important for the Administration to listen to our voice. We do not want to be anyone’s enemy—we are Americans,” Wenski said in an interview with EFE.
The religious leader, who heads one of the dioceses with the largest Latino and Haitian populations in the United States, issued a call to defend the rights of migrants. He also emphasized that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has maintained a strong and public stance in favor of migrants for decades.
International
Trump relaunches diplomatic push to finalize U.S.-Backed peace plan for Ukraine War
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his diplomatic team will resume meetings with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in an effort to pressure both sides to accept the peace plan proposed by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.
As part of this new round of talks, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will hold discussions with Ukrainian representatives to narrow differences on the remaining points of the agreement.
Trump also confirmed his intention to meet personally with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Putin, though he emphasized that such meetings will only take place “when the agreement is fully finalized or in its final stage.”
The president claimed that his administration has made “tremendous progress” toward resolving the conflict and reiterated that the war “never would have started” if he had been in the White House at the onset of the crisis.
The U.S.-backed peace plan consists of 28 points and has been revised following feedback from both sides. According to Trump, only “a few points of disagreement” remain under active discussion.
One of the most controversial aspects of the proposal is the suggestion that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region to Russia and limit the size of its armed forces. Kyiv is working closely with Washington to soften these clauses in search of an arrangement that does not compromise its sovereignty or security.
With this diplomatic push, Trump aims to solidify his role as the main mediator in the conflict and steer the war toward a political resolution after years of devastation, humanitarian crisis, and rising global geopolitical tensions.
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