The announcement was made in a tweet broadcast on New Year’s Eve. The Colombian government has reached a six-month ceasefire with the five main armed groups operating in the country – the Liberation Army guerrillas (ELN), dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and drug trafficking gangs – announced President Gustavo Petro, Saturday, December 31, 2022.
“We have agreed a bilateral ceasefire with the ELN, [les groupes dissidents des FARC] Segunda Marquetalia [et] Central staff, AGC [milices d’Autodéfense gaïtanistes de Colombie] and the Sierra Nevada Self-Defense Forces, 1er January to June 30, 2023, the extension of which will depend on the progress made in the negotiations”said the head of state on the social network.
Hemos agreed to a bilateral cese con el ELN, la Segunda Marquetalia, el Estado Mayor Central, las AGC y las Autodef… https://t.co/z1BKYZuz84
The truce reached bilaterally was the main objective of the government in its initiative to “total peace” to end the conflict that persists despite the dissolution of the FARC in 2017. Colombia, the world’s main producer of cocaine, has suffered more than half a century of armed conflict between the state and various groups of leftist guerrillas, paramilitaries right-wingers and drug traffickers.
Colombia’s first left-wing government, which took office on August 7, in November resumed peace talks suspended by the former government of Ivan Duque (2018-2022) in an attempt to end the continent’s last internal armed conflict. through negotiations.
ten thousand armed men
Negotiations are ongoing, without a bilateral ceasefire, with Cuba, Norway and Venezuela as guarantors. Mexico also plans to support the negotiations and is expected to host them soon. However, these discussions have so far failed to stem the violence across the country.
Negotiations are taking place with the ELN, the last constituted guerrilla group still active in Colombia while the FARC signed a peace agreement in 2016. The ELN was founded in 1964 by trade unionists and students sympathizing with Ernesto ” Che’ Guevara and the Cuban Revolution.
At the same time, “exploratory dialogues” Separate events take place between delegates from Mr. Petro and the Segunda Marquetalia and Central Staff groups, dissidents of the FARC. The AGC militias, made up of far-right paramilitaries demobilized in the early 2000s, are the armed wing of the Gulf clan, Colombia’s main drug trafficking gang.
The government is offering “judicial lenient treatment” to members of armed groups in exchange for their dismantling, Ivan Cepeda, pro-government senator and negotiator with the rebels, recently explained to AFP. According to the NGO Indepaz, nearly ninety political or criminal groups operate today in Colombia, with a total of ten thousand armed men. In 2022, Indepaz counted nearly a hundred massacres in which these groups were involved.