The top commander of the National Liberation Army (ELN), Eliecer Chamorroalias Antonio Garciadefended himself this Wednesday after his Twitter account was closed after threatening the journalist Maria Alejandra Villamizar for a column he published in the Spanish newspaper El País criticizing that armed group.
“For these trills to request that my account be closed saying that I am threatening someone is not objective, because with trills I do not insult anyone, as some people call me: criminal, murderer, etc. I listen to it and that’s it. They are sayings and I have not threatened anyone because they tell me and there are many examples,” said “Antonio García” in a statement.
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Through his account (now suspended), @antonioGcdte, said that “pains hurt the same on both sides, that’s why we must respect each other” and he mentioned, in addition to Villamizar, the director of Semana Magazine, Vicky Dávila.
“María Alejandra Villamizar says that ‘nobody is eternal in the world’, referring to the ELN. I answer him with the same song by his favorite singer Darío Gómez: ‘You will suffer, you will cry while you get used to losing, then you will resign yourself when you no longer see me‘” the guerrilla leader said on Twitter.
This after Villamizar assured in a column titled “No one is eternal in the world”, that the guerrillas believe that “With their premises of revolution, they can continue with weapons and explosives to stay in force.”
The threats would have been symbolic: ELN Commander
According to the commander, the threat resides in the fact that he said that Villamizar “It went to Dávila’s head”which for him is “symbolic”.
Now, Garcia asserted: “What I say is only symbolic, imaginative, and they are the ones who must examine themselves and that’s it. If I’m not objective, they can laugh at my mistakes. That’s life.”
While acknowledging that “the joke, the joke, the irony has its limits and must be used with care and respect”.
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“There are other people, soldiers, politicians, businessmen more armed than me who speak and say things more serious than the jokes or jokes that I express. By these means and in my exchanges I only use and will use words, those who have listened to me in dialogue spaces will be able to say so,” García argued.
The commander has already opened another account, after the suspension yesterday of his, and maintains constant communications through a telegram channelwhere he pours his opinions.
Crisis in peace negotiations between Colombia and the ELN
Last Friday the Government admitted that the peace negotiations with the ELN are in crisis and asked the guerrillas to say if they are using the talks to strengthen themselves or if they have a real desire to put an end to the armed conflict.
This after the attack perpetrated on Wednesday of last week by that group in the department of Norte de Santander which left nine soldiers dead and nine wounded.
Despite this, The Government does not intend to get up from the negotiating table that has already been held for two roundsone in Caracas and another in Mexico City, and the third will be installed after Easter in Havana.
In the attack with explosives and rifle shots in Guamalitoa corregimiento in the municipality of El Carmen (Norte de Santander), two non-commissioned officers and seven soldiers who were doing their military service were killed, and nine other soldiers were injured.