After the ELN denied its involvement in the assassination of Miguel Uribe Turbay, after being identified by President Gustavo Petro as a"probable" perpetrator during a promotion ceremony at the General Santander School, the president once again referred to the case, whose investigations —as El Tiempo anticipated— are mainly targeting alias Iván Mordisco.
Through a lengthy message on his X account, the president assured that he never said that the ELN was behind the assassination and specified that the evidence points to the Second Marquetalia.
“The ELN should read my speeches more than the press. I’m not just talking for the sake of it. The evidence points to a path toward the Second Marquetalia, based in Venezuela and Colombia; it’s likely that they were paid to assassinate the senator,” wrote Petro, who, since the attack, has launched at least four hypotheses about the events.
The head of state noted that both the ELN and the Second Marquetalia are engaged in open warfare against his government, with disputes centered on control of illicit economies and operations on both sides of the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
"The two (...) have gone to war with each other after the trap that the ELN set for the Second Marquetalia in Venezuelan territory," he added.
The message for Maduro
President Petro also called on Nicolás Maduro's regime to take action against both armed groups and asserted that, in coordination with that government, strikes have been struck against criminal organizations.
"It is important that Venezuela determine to thoroughly expel the two groups from its territory; I have managed, with Maduro's consent, to strike at the ELN on the border with Norte de Santander. Dozens of tons of cocaine have fallen on the Venezuelan side and bribed public officials," President Petro stated.
He went further, even saying that “both groups are hoping for a US invasion,” which he said could “create a situation similar to that in Libya, Syria, and Iraq.”
"Sectors of the far right in Colombia, Venezuela, and the U.S. are pushing for this violent adventure, which would not only upset Maduro but would also leave an open wound in Latin America, in the former Gran Colombia, indelible for generations among sister nations," he added.
In his message, Petro also spoke about the interference of international mafias in the financing of dissident movements. He asserted that figures like alias Pablito, a commander of the ELN, act under the orders of foreign cartels with a presence in Albania, Italy, Mexico, and the Middle East.
"They no longer fight states; they kill each other and fight over business. The ELN and the Second Marquetalia, at war against the project for change, serve the far-right mafias," he said.
The research
The Prosecutor's Office still does not have a conclusive line on the murder of Senator Uribe Turbay, but it is advancing on several certainties. The first is that the crime was committed due to his high political profile, since he was one of the main opposition figures in Congress and aspired to the presidential candidacy of the Democratic Center.
As the president has been saying, even threatening to sue anyone who claims otherwise, there is no evidence in the case file directly linking his administration to the attack. Investigators are examining the flaws in the security arrangements of the National Protection Unit and the Police, which facilitated the hitman's actions.
The investigation, in which more than 200 experts from the Attorney General's Office and the Police are participating, has already resulted in six arrests, including the hitman. A source involved in the case, who spoke with this newspaper, indicated that there is no evidence linking him to the ELN or the Second Marquetalia, despite the accusations. However, the line that investigators consider most solid points to the ties of Elder José Arteaga, alias el Costeño or Chipi, with hitman networks associated with the dissidents of alias Mordisco in Caquetá.
