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Ecuador, a principal actor in the talks between Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN
Posted On 24 Oct 2016
From Thursday, October 27, the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the spokesmen of the National Liberation Army (ELN for its Spanish acronym) will seek to put an end to armed conflict. The stage of those negotiations will be Ecuador, precisely one of the neighboring territories where the influence of the guerrillas has been felt. The kidnapping has been its main letter of introduction, according to the intelligence of Colombia. One of the most recent studies by the Center for Historical Memory of Colombia (CMH) reports that this subversive group caused 9,221 victims between 1978 and 2015. Of that figure, the 73% suffered kidnappings. The other percentage is related to targeted killings and damage to public and private property.
The guerrilla fighters used release false hostages in roads and deliberately robbed to civilians. Kidnapping to individuals that criticized their actions and businesspeople are also reported. Last December, for example, the police rescued a young Ecuadorian who was 37 days in captivity. The rebels demanded USD 200,000 to the family of the victim to release him. In September 2012, however, the Ecuadorian citizen Orlando Ibarra fled from an ELN campsite, after remaining kidnapped for two years. Ibarra ran a transportation company with branches in Colombia and was targeted by the guerrillas. Its militants even killed the father of Ibarra when he paid for the rescue, as denounced by the businessman when he returned.
Source: http://www.elcomercio.
