ELN
From WolfWikis
The National Liberation Army (ELN) was founded in 1964 as an organization against the Colombian government. Because of its ideals of freedom and equality, the group attracted many priests. One priest in particular, Manuel Perez led the ELN for two decades. According to the State department, the ELN has been steadily decreasing in numbers over the last few years. They do not have the funding that FARC has and therefore takes out attacks on infrastructure supports more so than on the military.
The ELN does more kidnapping than any of the other groups and it is almost entirely a financial ploy. While the Colombian government has made some small efforts to negotiate peace talks with the ELN, the group doesn’t have the numbers or money that FARC has and therefore, must use kidnapping and extortion as their main sources of income. The ELN has recently been noted for not releasing kidnap victims despite paid ransoms and in 2004 was added along with the AUC and FARC to the list of terrorist organizations recognized by the European Union.