COLOMBIA's ELN has a decades-long history of terror - carrying out military-style assassinations, extortion operations and kidnappings.
The group confirmed its latest move yesterday, claiming it was behind the kidnapping of Liverpool star Luis Diaz’s father.
Known as the Ejército de Liberación Nacional in Spanish, the ELN is a bilateral guerrilla movement which largely controls the Venezuelan and Colombian border.
Founded in 1964 as a leftist anti-government group, it has about 2,000 fighters and is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and European Union.
Their leaders usually target the government but have been known to wipe out rural areas – using a mix of small arms, machine guns, mines and IEDS.
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The ELN operates as a federation with regional units enjoying high levels of autonomy - implementing different strategies according to their local needs.
Saturday's snatching of Luis Manuel Díaz and his wife Cilenis Marulanda is the latest of a long history of kidnappings.
The ELN has been responsible for numerous kidnappings of civilians, including politicians, journalists, and foreign nationals.
The abduction of civilians has been a traditional practice of the ELN.
In January 2018 the rebel group kidnapped an oil engineer in the north of Colombia.
He was named at the time as 41-year-old Andres Riano Ravelo.
Two Dutch journalists were kidnapped by the group in June 2017, the Colombian military said.
As well as extortion and illegal taxation, they have often used kidnappings as a means to fund their activities and to exert pressure on the Colombian government.
Attacks on infrastructure and ambushes on national security forces are two other ELN classic moves.
The group has carried out bombings and urban attacks, often targeting government installations, police stations, and other symbols of authority.
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In 2019, the ELN notoriously killed 21 police cadets with a car bomb outside a station in Bogota.
The ELN has also targeted oil pipelines and electrical infrastructure, causing environmental damage and disrupting essential services.
Efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with the group have been ongoing, but achieving a lasting resolution has proven to be a complex and challenging process.
Peace talks restarted last year as Gustavo Petro took office on a promise to bring “total peace” to Colombia.
He vowed to negotiate directly with the armed groups that have sowed violence across the country for decades.
The government and the ELN began a six-month ceasefire in August as part of talks.
It comes after the guerrilla group said on Thursday they will free Luis Diaz's father after kidnapping him in his hometown of Barrancas.
Diaz's father will be released "as soon as possible," ELN representative Juan Carlos Cuellar told a community meeting, in a video clip shared by the group with Reuters.
Earlier on Thursday, the government's peace delegation charged with negotiating with the ELN called for Diaz's father to be released immediately.
"We remind the ELN that kidnapping is criminal, violates international humanitarian law and that its duty in building the peace process is not just to stop [kidnapping] but to eliminate it forever," Otty Patino, head of the government's peace delegation, said in a statement.
