BOGOTA, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Monday suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), after a series of attacks against police stations at the weekend killed seven officers and injured over 40 more.
Santos explained that, due to the attacks in Barranquilla, Soledad and Santa Rosa del Sur, he ordered the army to fight the ELN as if no peace talks were happening.
"The facts are clear and the behavior of the ELN forces me...to fight terrorism with all avenues as if there were no peace negotiation," he said.
Speaking from the municipality of La Palma in the department of Cundinamarca, where he was leading a ceremony to hand over land to farmers, Santos did not dismiss the possibility of future talks but said the ELN needed a coherent stance.
"To continue peace negotiation, this doctrine demands a minimum of coherence. My patience and that of the Colombian people have limits. Therefore, I have decided to suspend the...fifth round of talks set for the coming days (in Quito, Ecuador) until I see coherence from the ELN between their words and their actions," he warned.
He added that the Colombian army had been ordered to resume military operations against the ELN after a three-month ceasefire ended on Jan. 9.
The ELN also issued a statement, explaining that until a new ceasefire was reached, "military actions" would continue.
"This is why we have insisted since December...to overcome the difficulties that have arisen. But the government did not pay any attention to our insistence," it read.
Peace talks between the government and the ELN began on Feb. 7, 2017 in Quito to seek an end to the country's last armed conflict, after the FARC signed a peace deal of their own in 2016.
