The Colombian government Monday captured a leading figure of the National Liberation Army (ELN), the nation's second largest rebel group, the government said Tuesday.
Carlos Marin Guarin, alias Pablito, "was the National Liberation Army leader most hostile to any kind of dialogue with the government. He wanted to strengthen the military wing by drug trafficking," said Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos.
Pablito is charged with murders, pipeline attacks and blowing up pylons in Arauca department on the Venezuelan border. He was arrested as he left a restaurant in the Colombian capital Bogota.
Santos said the government had been offering a reward for the capture of Pablito, who headed about half of the ELN's force. The operations also included smashing up the group's drug trafficking and three guerilla fronts.
The ELN, with an estimated force of some 5,000, has been engaged in intermittent peace talks with the Colombian government since December 2005, with Venezuela as a facilitator.
An ELN framework agreement has been hammered out, including a ceasefire, an agreement on where guerillas and the government can meet for talks and a hostage swap. But it has not been signed.
The ELN was founded in the 1960s by radical Catholic priests and students inspired by Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution. It is the second largest rebel group in the South American country, after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Source:Xinhua
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