Colombian President Gustavo Petro posted on X during the past hour, from 5:15 PM to 6:16 PM UTC on January 2, 2026, accusing the ELN guerrilla group of damaging Colombia and Venezuela by smuggling cocaine extracted from Catatumbo across the border, and stating that Colombian authorities captured an ELN member in northern Santander with 3.5 tons of coca paste. Petro revealed he has held multiple phone conversations with Venezuelan President NicolĂĄs Maduro and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino LĂłpez to coordinate operations against border mafias, noting that most of the Venezuelan government is willing to cooperate and that important operations have been achieved on both sides, according to his X post. Petro denied being a CIA agent or front man for Maduro, stating he was formerly with the M19 group and has proposed dialogue with the ELN years ago to end violence and cocaine production, as detailed in the post translated from Spanish. He criticized ELN political cadres for engaging in drug trafficking, which he described using Marxist terms as benefiting capitalist centers while leaving producing countries with degradation, and blamed past border closure policies for empowering the ELN, per the X statement. Petro identified enemies in the American right and Venezuelan extreme left, and rejected a comparison of Maduro to former Colombian President Ălvaro Uribe made against him, according to the source at https://x.com/petrogustavo/status/2007140522234700221.
