Following the bombing of a police academy, the Colombian government has demanded the extradition of the leaders of the leftist guerrilla organization ELN from Cuba. A formal request for arrest and extradition has been made, said Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo today.
The ELN commanders keep coming back to Cuba because of the now-stopped peace negotiations with the Colombian government.
Rebels justified assassination
Last week, 21 people were killed and dozens injured in an attack on a police school in the Colombian capital, Bogota. A longtime ELN member drove an explosives-laden car to the grounds of Police General Santander and detonated it.
The rebels justified the act: the police academy and its cadets were actively involved in the fight against insurgents and were therefore permissible military objectives.
Meanwhile, the Cuban government said it does not tolerate any terrorist activity. „Cuba has never and will never allow its territory to be used to prepare terrorist acts against other states,“ Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote on the short message service Twitter.
