HAVANA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Cuba has never allowed, nor will it ever allow, its territory to be used for the perpetration of terrorist actions against any state, Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Monday said in a message posted on Twitter.
The statement came just hours after Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in the capital Bogota last week that left at least 21 dead.
The victims of the car bomb were students of a police academy and uniformed guards at the entrance to the school who attempted to stop the vehicle. The driver of the car also died in the attack.
"Cuba has strictly complied with its role as guarantor and alternative venue of the peace talks between the Colombian government and the ELN," Rodriguez said, adding that "Cuba is against terrorism and war... We condemn all forms of terrorism, regardless of its motivations."
Thursday's car bomb targeted a police academy in southern Bogota, which the ELN said was a legitimate target in its war against the state. Colombian President Ivan Duque has called on Cuban authorities to extradite several guerrilla leaders in Havana.
Starting in 1960s, the Colombian conflict is a low-intensity asymmetric war between Colombian governments, paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and far-left guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the ELN, fighting each other to increase their influence in the territory.
Havana had hosted peace talks between the Colombian government and Colombia's FARC guerrillas for four years, which ended in a peace deal in November 2016. The peace agreement, still in effect, has run into obstacles since Duque's government took office.
The ELN negotiators to the peace talks, which were initiated by Colombia's ex-president Juan Manuel Santos and then abandoned by Duque when he took office, have remained in Havana waiting for the renewal of talks.
