The National Liberation Army (ELN) was born in the aftermath of the victory of Fidel Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Cuba and its first cadres trained under them before launching their guerrilla war in Colombia in 1964. Today the 4,000-strong rebel army, with its ally and larger cousin the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), controls 40 per cent of the country. Unlike the Farc, the ELN is strapped for cash and relies on kidnapping to gather funds necessary to continue its 40-year revolutionary war. In the past three years the ELN has kidnapped more than 2,500 people, many...
