Colombia and ELN guerrillas want to resume talks

The guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Colombian government plan to resume peace negotiations in November. This emerges from an agreement signed on October 4th, in which Venezuela, Cuba and Norway act as guarantors for the dialogues.

National Liberation Army spokesman Antonio Garcia (L) and Colombian government spokesman Ivan Danilo Rueda (R) sign an agreement between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Caracas, Venezuela, October 04, 2022.

Miguel Gutierrez/EPA

(dpa)

The new left-wing government in Colombia and the guerrilla organization ELN want to resume their peace talks. They are expected to take place at different locations from November, as the High Commissioner for Peace, Iván Danilo Rueda, said on Tuesday (local time) in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Countries like Cuba and Norway should sit at the table as guarantors for the talks.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressly welcomed the decision. “He hopes that the Colombians can prove once again that even the most stubborn conflicts can be solved through dialogue,” said spokesman Stéphane Dujarric. The resolution of the conflict is crucial for peace in the country.

The previous government of conservative President Iván Duque had broken off peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) after the ELN bombed a police academy in Bogotá in 2019. After taking office in August, the new President Gustavo Petro, an ex-guerrilla, restarted the peace process in the former civil war country of Colombia.

The aim is to consistently implement the peace agreement with the left-wing guerrilla organization FARC, to resume the broken negotiations with the smaller rebel group ELN and also to enter into dialogue with the numerous criminal gangs. Ten criminal groups recently declared a unilateral ceasefire.

For 52 years, the South American country suffered from a civil war between left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and the military. 220,000 people died and millions were displaced. After the peace agreement between the government and FARC in 2016, the security situation initially improved. However, many fighters have now gone underground again. Again and again, trade unionists, social activists and environmentalists are deliberately killed.

source site-111