The ELN and the Colombian government announce that they will resume peace talks.
In a call shrouded in secrecy this Tuesday, Colombia and the ELN announced the official start of peace talks from the first week of November. Delegations from both sides in Venezuela have done so, accompanied by the Catholic Church. A moderator read a terse statement announcing that an agreement had been reached to reinstate the 2016 negotiating tables and that this time a UN verification mission would attend the talks.
President Gustavo Petro thus marks the beginning of talks that will be anything but easy. The Colombian presidents of the last 50 years have tried unsuccessfully to reach some kind of deal with this Cuban-born guerrilla when some Colombian students were blinded by Fidel Castro’s revolution. Petro is trying to demobilize this group, the country’s last asset, as a first step towards what he calls total peace, meaning for the first time in the country’s history there are no illegal armed groups on its territory.
The document signed by the parties states that for both the ELN and the government, the participation of society in the changes that Colombia needs to bring about peace is essential. Unlike the FARC, which was demobilized in 2016, the ELN is a more idealistic guerrilla whose ultimate goal is not to seize power by force of arms but to achieve political and social change.
Sitting at the table where the announcement was made were Danilo Rueda, the Colombian peace commissioner; Paulo Beltrán and Antonio García, two ELN leaders; Senator Iván Cepeda and Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao. Present were representatives from Cuba, Venezuela and Norway, the three countries currently mediating in the talks. Chile and Spain have offered to participate in the process. The statement thanked them all for their “unwavering commitment” to peace.
ELN supreme leader Antonio García said after the announcement that there are three consecutive governments with Petro – before Juan Manuel Santos and later with Iván Duque – with whom they have opened dialogue and no agreement has been reached. “It’s not because of the ELN’s negligence, but because of the times the governments have imposed,” he added. The reality is that Duque ended those talks after a guerrilla attack that left 24 young soldiers dead. García insisted that the agreements must be honored. “A way has been opened,” he continued.
In the past, the Colombian governments have not respected the peace agreements that have been reached. After the demobilization of the M-19, the guerrillas of which Petro was a political member, dozens of their members were murdered and their reintegration into society made impossible. Many of them went underground again. The army and paramilitary forces, which sometimes work together, have opposed giving political space to guerrillas who lay down their arms. García believed that in this opening process, a more in-depth discussion about the real causes of the conflict should be opened. “Peace in Colombia is not only through arms, but also through the root causes of the armed conflict: inequality.”
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Next, Danilo Rueda spoke on behalf of the Colombian government. He said the state has followed the protocols and responsibilities Petro has assumed. “This peace delegation has given us confidence with the release of detainees, there are indications of de-escalation of the conflict and respect for the right to life,” he said. Nonetheless, he pointed out that they were still in a phase of trust-building.
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