“Forcibly, I don’t know the truth,” said the chief negotiator of the government of Gustavo Petro Urrego with the ELN, adding that he does not have information to establish whether the aforementioned armed group recruits minors to join its ranks.
By: Angelica Andrade
Great controversy has been caused by the statements by the chief negotiator of the government of Gustavo Petro Urrego in the peace process with the ELN, Otty Patiño, who is currently receiving hundreds of criticisms for his response at a press conference where he assured that he does not know if the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army, ELN, forced minors to join the ranks.
Everything happened after the information issued by the governor of Antioquia, Aníbal Gaviria, in which he warned about the considerable level of risk in Yarumal due to the alleged purpose of the ELN to recruit 10 minors.
As the governor of Antioquia commented, in the municipality of Yarumal: “they have been indoctrination, but, in addition, we have delivered the documentation to the Prosecutor’s Office and what we hope is that the investigations take place and after that the decisions.”
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After the controversial statements, the commander-in-chief of the aforementioned armed group, Antonio García, spoke out to deny such assertion, alluding that no one is forced to join their ranks.
“We have made it clear that the ELN does not recruit. People join voluntarily. We do NOT link minors to our combatant ranks. If Governor Aníbal Gaviria has located 12 children who could be “recruited” by the guerrillas, we ratify him that it is not the ELN,” tweeted the leader of the armed group, Antonio García through your Twitter account.
In this context, Otty Patiño was strongly questioned when responding to a journalist who inquired about his opinion regarding García’s statements.
Photo: Publications Week.