At least ten rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN) were killed in a military bombing in the mountains of southwestern Colombia, President Abelardo De La Espriella announced on Sunday — the hardest blow against the guerrilla group in eight years.
The airstrike hit the ELN's Southwestern War Front on Thursday in the rural area of the municipality of El Tambo, in the department of Cauca, in a zone with extensive coca leaf crops that is strategic for cocaine production and trafficking — one of the armed groups' main sources of financing, along with illegal gold mining, according to security sources.
"With this result we weaken the chain of command, the combat capability and the criminal structures that seek to control territories and strategic corridors toward the Colombian Pacific," De La Espriella said on his X account.
The fifth bombing since he took office
The operation, dubbed Operación Ónix, is the fifth bombing ordered by De La Espriella since he assumed power on August 7, despite attempts to stop them through legal actions by human rights defenders. Super Tucano aircraft, made in Brazil, and Kfir jets, produced in Israel, took part in the operation, according to military sources.
Bombings have historically been the most successful military tactic in the fight against leftist guerrillas and criminal gangs, according to security analysts.
De La Espriella, a right-wing lawyer who won the presidency promising to suspend peace dialogues and intensify attacks against armed groups, is personally leading the offensive he hopes will defeat them and end their role in a conflict of more than six decades that has left around 450,000 dead and millions displaced.
In recent speeches, the president ruled out negotiating with the illegal armed groups and announced that the only option their leaders and fighters have is to submit to justice or die in the military offensive.
A Sunday address on the budget, El Niño and reconstruction
The announcement came on the same day De La Espriella addressed the nation on Sunday, October 25, on the 2027 national budget, measures to face the El Niño phenomenon and progress in rebuilding regions hit by the earthquake of August 10.
The president said the 2027 budget was set by Decree 1599 of 2026 at $634.9 billones, after its passage in Congress stalled. He also announced that on October 28 the Colombia Mayor payments will begin for more than 2.8 million beneficiaries, defended water, energy and gas saving measures amid the rainfall deficit, and called for investigating companies that, he said, are not meeting their energy generation commitments.
Next week his government will also file before Congress the so-called Rescue Law, a bill aimed at cutting social spending, according to Prensa Latina.
Fuentes: Reuters (Colombia), Cablenoticias, Prensa Latina, Noticias Caracol.