01/05/2026
Channels affiliated with Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) reacted to the U.S. coup against Venezuela, stating:
“Dying for the homeland is not death; it is life.
Liberation or death.”
In the face of the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States, many have speculated about the consequences of illegal U.S. aggression, particularly regarding the Marxist guerrilla group ELN. This guerrilla organization has a very strong presence along the Colombia–Venezuela border, with a large number of its fighters operating inside Venezuela.
The ELN has increasingly become a focus of the United States ahead of the coup against Venezuela. In the past, the ELN has repeatedly declared that it would fight U.S. forces if a U.S. invasion of Venezuela were to occur.
The ELN has ties to several Bolivarian forces in Venezuela, and even Bolivarian revolutionary leader Hugo Chávez supported left-wing guerrilla groups in Colombia. As the U.S. invasion began, the Venezuelan government issued an official statement calling on Latin America to rise up against the United States:
“Independence or nothing at all. Homeland, socialism, or death. We shall prevail!”
