The guerrilla commanders of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN), Pablo Beltran (right) and Aureliano Carbonell, in Caracas on January 21, 2023. YURI CORTEZ / AFP
It should be understood as a gesture that allows progress in the area of peace negotiations: the Colombian government gave the National Liberation Army (ELN) the status of an “armed political rebel organization”, a condition that the guerrillas said was essential in order to gain access to it differ from other armed groups, such as drug dealers, with whom President Gustavo Petro is also trying to make “total peace”.
The ELN, which had threatened to end all negotiations if it were not granted that status, welcomed on Twitter an “agreement on the points without which it is impossible to develop this peace process clearly and firmly: the qualification of the ELN as one armed political rebel organization”.
Delegates also agreed to establish a channel of communication established during the suspension of talks, the latest round of which began in Mexico City on February 13, with Chile, Venezuela, Norway, Mexico and Brazil as guarantors, as well as that a bilateral Armistice is the order of the day.
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Armistice denied
The National Liberation Army (inspired by the Guevarists), the last constituted guerrilla still active in the country, resumed talks with the government in November 2022 after a four-year hiatus.
President Petro, himself a former M-19 guerrilla fighter, on January 1 decreed a ceasefire with five armed groups, including the ELN, which shortly thereafter denied the president’s announcement. By the end of January, however, the Colombian army had killed nine suspected guerrilla members.
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Mr Petro, who took office in August as Colombia’s first left-leaning president in history, wants “total peace” with the multitude of armed groups operating in the country, which are very often involved in drug trafficking.