Pray for Colombia’s peacemakers as they continue to struggle for justice and peace.
On the morning of Thursday, 17 January, a car bomb exploded inside the grounds of the General Santander Police Cadet Academy in Bogota, killing twenty-one (including the car driver) and injuring over seventy people. The National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia´s largest remaining guerrilla group has claimed responsibility.
Former President Santos began negotiations with the ELN in February 2017, but President Ivan Duque never sent delegates to the table. After the attack, he ordered an immediate reinstatement of arrest warrants against the ELN commanders negotiating in Cuba and their immediate extradition to Colombia.
Amongst those who believe that peace is achieved through dialogue and justice for everyone, many fear that the ELN´s attack on the police academy and Duque´s response will send Colombia back to a time of intensified armed conflict.
