President Gustavo Petro took to his X account to respond to Antonio García, the top leader of the ELN, after he denied that the illegal armed group participated in the assassination of Centro Democrático senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay. A version that was released by the head of state himself.
“I have never said that the ELN was behind the assassination of Senator Uribe Turbay. The ELN should read my speeches more than the press. I don’t just talk for the sake of it,” the president said on his X account.
I have never said that the ELN was behind the assassination of Senator Uribe Turbay.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) August 18, 2025
The ELN should read my speeches more than the press. I don't just talk for the sake of it.
The signs point to a path toward a second Marquetalia, based in Venezuela and Colombia; it is likely that... https://t.co/crvT97DABU
But on August 11, the same day Uribe Turbay died, Petro said during a promotion ceremony at the General Santander School in Bogotá that the ELN had “murdered Colombians” and suggested that it was “probable” that they were the perpetrators of the crime against the political leader “for money.”
A week after that statement, the president changed his mind and said on his X account: “The evidence points to a path toward the second Marquetalia, based in Venezuela and Colombia; it is likely that the Second Marquetalia was paid to assassinate the senator.”
The president ended by revealing a previously unknown theory involving Iván Márquez, leader of that illegal structure, and the dissidents of the Second Marquetalia with an alleged payment to assassinate one of the congressmen who led the opposition against the current Government.
The head of state's post came after Antonio García issued a statement, stating that"the ELN is accused by President Petro of an act it did not carry out." To deny his involvement in the attack against Uribe Tubrbay on June 7 in western Bogotá.
“There are no indications towards the ELN, but there are towards the Second Marquetalia, both groups are in open war against the government, they are in an armed opposition,” Petro reiterated on his X account.
The president was emphatic in pointing out that both the dissidents and the ELN are focused on illicit economies and are currently involved in a war, after the “trap” that the guerrilla group set for the Second Marquetalia in Venezuelan territory.
Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez recently explained that the ELN murdered Zarco Aldinever, a member of the Second Marquetalia and one of the prime suspects in the parliamentarian's assassination, over a drug trafficking dispute:"Apparently, they stole a shipment of cocaine among themselves, and a criminal dispute broke out between cartels," said the senior Petro government official.
