Colombian rebel group declares ceasefire: Update

Adds government response, virus figures.

Colombia's main insurgent group declared a 1-30 April unilateral ceasefire in support of efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.

The National Liberation Army (ELN) routinely attacks oil pipelines and other infrastructure in its decades-long insurgency against the Colombian state. Attacks on two main crude pipelines operated by state-controlled Ecopetrol have already waned in recent weeks, a possible reflection of quarantines and fears of contagion.

Just three pipeline attacks have taken place so far in March, compared with 15 in February, Ecopetrol told Argus.

The targeted infrastructure includes the 220,000 b/d Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline (OCC) that runs along Colombia's eastern border with Venezuela, and the 85,000 b/d Transandino line (OTA) in southern Colombia, near the border with Ecuador. This month, one attack has taken place on the OCC, and two on the OTA, Ecopetrol said, declining to comment on the cause of the recent decline in strikes.

In a declaration this morning, the ELN described its one-month ceasefire as "active" to ensure that it can defend itself from any military strikes. The group called on the Colombian government to halt military operations as well, and resume peace talks.

The government's high commissioner for peace Miguel Ceballos told local Caracol radio that the ELN ceasefire should last more than just a month, and the group's willingness to pursue peace would be judged by actions rather than words. "It is worth noting that in Colombia there are more than six armed groups with more than 13,000 people in the insurgency," Ceballos said, pledging that the government would not let down its guard.

He called on the ELN to cease all violent acts, free all hostages, end the recruitment of minors and stop laying anti-personnel mines.

The conservative administration of President Ivan Duque suspended negotiations with the ELN that had been taking place under the previous government. A January 2019 attack on a Bogota police academy that killed 22 cadets all but wiped out any chance of a resumption of talks.

Venezuela's government has long provided refuge to the ELN and other Colombian insurgents, including Farc dissidents, which engage in drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnappings and extortion. The Farc, once the largest guerrilla group in Latin America, put down its weapons in a peace deal with the prior government in 2016, although some have taken up arms again and resumed drug trafficking. The alleged cooperation between the groups and Caracas was central to a series of US indictments of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and more than a dozen other Venezuelan officials last week.

The Colombian government is focused on checking the spread of the virus and mitigating the economic fallout, which is further aggravated by the oil price collapse. Ecopetrol confirmed that it has cut throughput at its Colombian refineries in response to reduced demand for gasoline and jet fuel, without immediately detailing processing levels.

Colombia, with a population of close to 50mn, has 798 declared cases of the virus, with 14 deaths, relatively modest per-capita figures compared with neighboring Ecuador and Chile.

By Patricia Garip