Gustavo Aníbal Giraldo.
Photo: the 2orillas
A little more than three years ago, in April 2021, a rumor spread that one of the most recognized commanders of the ELN guerrilla had died in Cuba: Gustavo Aníbal Giraldo Quinchía, known in the war as ‘Pablito’.
Although the guerrilla group soon denied this information—and even ratified Giraldo as third commander two months later—his prolonged absence in key spaces maintained doubts.
However, this Monday the ELN released a photograph that would be from the sixth national guerrilla congress, held in recent days, in which ‘Pablito’ appears.
”The announcement of the sixth congress shows a photo of him and distorts that he was dead. ‘Pablito’ is today and since 2021 the military leader of the ELN and represents another critical perspective on the peace process,” says Gerson Arias, associate researcher at the Ideas for La Paz Foundation (FIP).
In the image, Giraldo appears dressed in camouflage and carrying a weapon alongside Pablo Beltrán, head of the ELN delegation in the peace process, and Antonio García, top commander of that guerrilla.
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‘Pablito’ (right), poses with Pablo Betrán (center) and Antonio García, members of the ELN Central Command.
Photo: ELN
According to a statement released by the ELN, within the framework of the VI congress “the new National Directorate was elected, with the vast majority being ratified, as well as its first three commanders of the Central Command (COCE).”
That decision attracted attention because both Antonio García and ‘Pablito’ have expressed harsh criticism of the peace negotiations for several years.
The relevance of ‘Pablito’ for the peace process with the ELN
According to Arias, “the importance of ‘Pablito’ lies in the fact that he, who is the military leader of that guerrilla, believes that there are no conditions to agree on an end to the conflict, and he has an impact in the eastern region of the country, where The ELN concentrates two thirds of its military activity.”
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Giraldo was born in the Sarare region, on the border with Venezuela, and joined that guerrilla group’s Compañía Simacota in the 1980s.
He was head of that structure and began to climb positions until he became commander of the Domingo Laín Front in 2000 and, just five years later, he went on to lead the Eastern War Front, which has established itself as one of the strongest even to the present day. .
In 2015, ‘Pablito’ began to form part of the Central Command (Coce), the highest leadership body of the ELN. Since then, it was known about his critical attitude towards the peace negotiations, which at that time were beginning to advance with President Juan Manuel Santos.
Despite his reluctance to dialogue, in mid-2018 he traveled to Cuba to participate in the peace process, but he returned a few months later to Colombia to continue the expansion of the Eastern War Front.
In November 2022, when President Gustavo Petro established peace talks with the ELN, one of the main doubts that arose was what would be the position of the armed structures with greater military and economic power, such as the one led by ‘Pablito’ .
According to the communiqué of the sixth congress, all the War Fronts and the Specialized National Structures of the ELN participated in the event and “the debates concluded in important definitions with broad consensus”, among them that of reaffirming the will for peace and continuing the dialogues of peace.
The guerrilla also reported that “the new National Directorate was elected, the vast majority being ratified, as well as its first three commanders of the Central Command”, among whom is ‘Pablito’.
