The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), a far-left guerrilla group, announced on Tuesday in Havana that the ceasefire that had been in effect since August would be extended by six months.
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“We have agreed to extend the bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire for one hundred and eighty (180) days from midnight on February 6, 2024,” said a document shared by both parties on X (formerly Twitter).
In this document, which bears the signatures of the heads of the two delegations, the ELN, the last active rebellion in Colombia, also undertakes to “suspend” the kidnappings.
“The National Liberation Army (ELN) should contribute to the development of the bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire and unilaterally and temporarily suspend detentions of an economic nature,” it said.
The kidnapping of the father of Colombian soccer player Luis Diaz, who was released twelve days later, by the rebel group at the end of October had endangered the peace process that began at the end of 2022.
In December, during the previous round of negotiations in Mexico, the ELN committed to suspending kidnappings “as part of the extension of the ceasefire” in Colombia.
“Crisis factors”
Earlier on Monday, the two parties postponed the conclusion of the sixth round of their talks, which began on January 22 in Havana.
Shortly before, the ELN had indicated in a press release that measures had been taken “to resolve crisis factors” in order to reach an agreement on an extension of the ceasefire signed in Havana in June and in force since August 3.
This ceasefire, which expired on January 29th, had already been extended by seven days last week to give the negotiators more time. At the very beginning of this new round of talks, the latter had expressed their intention to reach an agreement to extend the ceasefire.
Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez even traveled to Havana a little over a week ago to take part in the negotiations.
The closing ceremony is now scheduled for Tuesday morning in the Cuban capital.
Gustavo Petro, the first leftist president in Colombia's history, has begun talks with the main armed groups operating in the country. With the ELN, but also dissidents from the Marxist FARC (who reject the historic 2016 peace agreement), paramilitary groups and drug traffickers.
This policy of “total peace” faces numerous obstacles and is strongly criticized by the opposition, while some of these armed groups have increased their actions to increase their territorial influence.
Previously, several rounds of negotiations took place in Venezuela, Mexico and Cuba, which act as guarantors to the governments of Brazil, Chile and Norway.
There are also Germany, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, which are accompanying the talks, as well as a representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Present in the west on the Pacific coast and in the northeast on the border with Venezuela, the ELN, whose number is estimated at 5,800 fighters, has challenged the Colombian state since its founding in 1964 in the wake of the Cuban Revolution.
In 2016, Bogota signed a historic agreement with the country's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which laid down its arms.
In total, more than 90 illegal armed groups are currently active in Colombia: dissidents from the FARC, the ELN, heirs to the far-right paramilitary groups of the 1990s and low-level drug trafficking gangs such as the formidable Clan del Golfo, according to the independent Colombian think tank Indepaz.