An alleged attack by the **National Liberation Army (ELN)** in eastern Colombia, which left two soldiers dead and 25 others injured, has pushed the country’s peace process to the brink of collapse. The attack, which took place on Monday at an army base in the village of **Puerto Jordan** in Arauca province, drew strong condemnation from President **Gustavo Petro**, who said the incident “practically closes the peace process” with the guerrilla group.

The ELN has maintained a presence in Arauca for decades, and tensions in the region have escalated since the expiration of a ceasefire between the guerrillas and the military on **August 23**. Since then, the ELN has allegedly carried out more than **10 attacks** on oil infrastructure in the province. The latest attack marks a significant escalation in violence and places the already fragile peace talks between the government and the ELN in jeopardy.

President Petro, who took office in **August 2022**, resumed peace talks with the ELN in an effort to advance his policy of **“Total Peace,”** aimed at negotiating with all remaining armed groups in Colombia. However, the talks have been on shaky ground since **February**, when tensions arose between the government and the ELN after the administration initiated parallel talks with a dissident faction of the ELN in the southwestern **Nariño** province.

The Arauca attack has caused a rift within the government, with some officials pushing to end the negotiations entirely and others advocating for continued dialogue. The situation has drawn comparisons to the 2019 **car bomb attack** on a police academy in Bogotá, which killed 23 people and led former President **Ivan Duque** to suspend peace talks with the ELN. Petro invoked this comparison, expressing his frustration with the ongoing cycle of violence, saying, “This is like an eternal becoming, silencing a part of the people, continuing wars and killing each other over and over again.”

Suspending the peace talks would be a major setback for Petro’s **“Total Peace”** initiative, which aimed to negotiate with not only the ELN but also other armed groups, including **FARC dissidents** and organized crime organizations in cities like **Medellin**, **Quibdó**, and **Buenaventura**. If the process with the ELN is formally abandoned, it would represent a critical blow to the broader goal of ending Colombia’s decades-long internal conflict and achieving a lasting peace.