Colombia: three soldiers killed by explosive-laden drones at the Santa Rosa base – the government points to the ELN and the arrest of “Carrito”

An arrest on Friday and a deadly response on Saturday. Drones loaded with explosives struck the Santa Rosa camp, in the south of the Bolívar department in northern Colombia, on Saturday, November 7. The Army announced three dead: professional soldier Hairo Linse Carvajal and soldiers Dylan Andrés Lozano León and Álvaro Pusaina. Other men of Jungle Battalion No. 48 of the 19th Brigade were wounded.

The Defence Ministry attributes the attack to the ELN, the National Liberation Army. In a statement on Saturday evening it wrote that the attack appears to be reprisal by the organisation after the arrest of “Carrito,” head of the Guamocó Resistance Front. Defence Minister Jorge Mora, a retired general, spoke of “barbarity” and said there would be “no respite” in the fight against those who attack soldiers.

“Carrito” was arrested a day earlier, on Friday, November 6, in a rural area of Santa Rosa itself, in a joint Army and Police operation. The armed forces describe him as responsible for the illicit finances of the ELN’s “Darío Ramírez Castro” War Front, controlling income from illegal gold mining in southern Bolívar. Two bars of cast gold, over 233 million pesos in cash, weapons and 42 USB drives were seized. The ministry called it the biggest blow against the ELN since the new government took office.

The armed forces commander, Maj. Gen. Erik Rodríguez Aparicio, ordered operations stepped up and intelligence capabilities strengthened to find the perpetrators. The Army commander travelled to Santa Rosa, visited the wounded and urged residents to provide information.

The ELN under pressure from two sides

The attack comes as the ELN is under pressure beyond the border too. The US has it on its list of foreign terrorist organisations, and on October 30 Venezuela’s army struck an ELN camp in Apure, with at least 19 dead. US reports credit Washington with intelligence and drone help in that strike, something neither government has confirmed. In Colombia, President Abelardo de la Espriella has raised the tone, with troops on the streets of Cúcuta on the border with Venezuela.

Explosive drones have become one of the main weapons of armed groups. In the early hours of the same Saturday there was an explosives attack, reportedly with drones, near the La Agustina toll booths on the Pan-American Highway between Popayán and Cali, without traffic being interrupted. On Sunday, November 8, soldiers in Tadó, Chocó, neutralised another drone with a jamming gun before it could drop its grenades. Santa Rosa, however, shows that when defences fail, a cheap unmanned aircraft can cost lives inside a military base.