Explosive-laden drones hit the Colombian Army’s compound in Santa Rosa del Sur, a gold-mining town in southern Bolívar department, around midday on Saturday, November 7. Three soldiers died and 16 were seriously wounded. Defense Minister Jorge Mora pointed to the National Liberation Army, the cocaine-trafficking guerrilla group known by its Spanish initials, ELN.

The attack came as the United States helps both Colombia and Venezuela go after that group. On October 30, according to The New York Times, US-supplied drones and intelligence helped Venezuela’s military bomb an ELN camp across the border. The next day, President Abelardo De La Espriella watched three MQ-9A Reapers that Washington is lending Colombia fly over the Tolemaida military base. Mora linked Saturday’s strike to an arrest made in Santa Rosa del Sur the day before.

Mora said the attack appeared to be the ELN’s response to the capture of Leivis Enrique Valero Castillo, alias Carrito, whom the government accuses of being a main figure behind the finances of the ELN’s Guamocó Resistance Front. He was arrested in Mina Nueva, in rural Santa Rosa del Sur.

De La Espriella announced the arrest, made during an operation called Ocaso, on Friday. The drones struck the next day while local officials held a security council at the mayor’s office, called after three people were killed in the municipality the day before, according to Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office. Mora’s remarks were reported by El Espectador. On Saturday, ColombiaOne reported that authorities had not confirmed a link between the arrest and the attack, and The Rio Times reported that no group had claimed it. DroneXL found no ELN claim or denial in Colombian or US coverage as of Monday, November 9.

Footage from the base showed smoke rising after three explosions and soldiers taking cover in sandbag shelters, the Associated Press reported. On Sunday the Army named the dead: professional soldier Jairo Lince Carvajal and soldiers Dilan Andrés Lozano León and Álvaro Pushaina. The latest official count, published by El Universal, lists 16 seriously wounded and 31 members of the unit affected in all. The mayor, Milton Olaya, put the number of injured at 35.

The compound is home to the Army’s 48th Jungle Battalion, which has come under drone attack in this municipality before. In August 2025, according to the military, the ELN’s Northeastern Front dropped explosives from drones on the battalion’s troops in La Pradera, a rural part of Santa Rosa del Sur, killing one soldier and wounding seven, Cambio reported. Drones carrying explosives killed another soldier in rural Santa Rosa del Sur and neighboring Arenal del Sur in May 2026, according to the Army’s First Division as cited by The Rio Times. The Ombudsman’s Office has had the town under an early warning since 2023 and says the government commission meant to act on such warnings has not been convened, despite worsening risks.

The Ombudsman’s Office also says the ELN is fighting the Clan del Golfo and FARC dissidents under alias Calarcá for territory and mining income in the Serranía de San Lucas around the town. Officials blamed Calarcá’s militia for the August 2025 drone attack that brought down a police Black Hawk near Amalfi.

The US Is Helping Target the ELN on Both Sides of the Border

In a November 3 report, The New York Times cited four US officials who said Washington supplied intelligence and the drones for the Apure strike in Venezuela, ColombiaOne summarized. Who flew them is unclear, though one source said the model is routinely flown by the US military.

Initial reports put the toll at eight ELN members. Fundaredes, a Venezuelan rights group, now counts 23 dead. Its regional coordinator, Juan Francisco García, says interviews with survivors and relatives show the dead included suppliers, pilots and relatives of fighters. According to Fundaredes and local sources cited by ColombiaOne, the camp was an ELN drug storage and distribution point.

Colombian authorities had said they could not defeat the ELN because its fighters often escaped to Venezuela, where officials let the group operate openly, the Times reported. Since US forces captured Nicolás Maduro in Caracas in January, Washington has had a cooperating government on both sides of the border. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in September the ELN should no longer operate in Venezuela “with impunity.”

The three Reapers arrived in Colombia unarmed and in containers, on loan, and were assembled at Tolemaida, Infobae reported. Assembly and testing are part of Vanguardia del Sur 2026, a joint exercise with US troops that runs until November 11, and Colombian troops will be trained to run the aircraft’s surveillance systems before operations start. Colombia’s military says the Reapers will support operations against the ELN and other armed groups by locating their camps. The US also handed over a Black Hawk helicopter at the ceremony, according to Noticias RCN.

De La Espriella answered Saturday’s attack with a promise of more air strikes. “For every attack, one bombardment,” he wrote, in the Times’ translation.

Colombia’s President Says Petro Left No Anti-Drone Shield Behind

The day after the attack, De La Espriella said Gustavo Petro’s January anti-drone shield produced nothing. Petro says he left the contract process ready. De La Espriella called that a lie and said Petro’s officials traveled abroad without results and left no studies behind, La FM reported.

The January plan committed about $1.6 billion to a National Anti-Drone Shield of sensors, electronic warfare and interceptors, with military bases among the first priorities. In February, Petro’s defense minister, Pedro Sánchez, said 74 companies from 20 countries wanted to take part and that the project was in its pre-contract phase, with the market study under way. The ministry also said it had detected about 9,000 drone attack attempts in 2025 and blocked about 96% of them, and that the 4% it missed killed several soldiers and civilians and injured more than a hundred people, Asuntos Legales reported.

Saturday’s strike was at least the second deadly drone attack on an army compound in nine weeks that authorities blamed on the ELN. On September 4, explosives dropped from drones, followed by a clash inside a military compound in Ocaña, Norte de Santander, killed three soldiers, the Associated Press reported. De La Espriella said on Sunday his government is working on both anti-drone defenses and offensive drones for the armed forces. He gave no amount, funding source or timeline and cited the country’s very difficult public finances.

DroneXL’s Take

The Reapers and the promised bombardments help Colombia hunt the people who launch these drones. In my view they won’t protect the next army compound, because stopping a drone over a base takes detection and defeat systems at the base itself.

The ministry’s February numbers say it blocked about 96% of the drone attacks it detected in 2025. The ones that get through still kill soldiers, three at Ocaña and three more at Santa Rosa del Sur. Ten months after the shield was announced, Colombia’s president and his predecessor are arguing over whether Petro left it ready to contract. Before the next round of air strikes, I’d want De La Espriella to put a number and a date on the base defense he promised on Sunday.

Sources: The New York Times, El Universal, El Espectador via Pulzo, ColombiaOne, ColombiaOne on Apure, The Rio Times, AP via Stuff, Infobae, Cambio, Asuntos Legales, La FM, AP via CTV

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.