This content was published on January 12, 2023 – 11:30 PM January 12, 2023 – 11:30 PM
Bogotá, 12 January (EFE).- Rodrigo Londoño, the last commander of the FARC, this Thursday offered his experience as a mediator for the Colombian government and the guerrilla forces of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in order to advance the peace negotiations which, according to the latter armed group “is in crisis”.
“For this purpose, I am making the experience of the defunct FARC-EP available, convinced that in a respectful exchange, new elements for a negotiated solution to ongoing violence will thrive,” says Londoño in a public letter to the supreme commander of the ELN. “Antonio García”, real name Eliécer Herlinto Chamorro.
The ELN and the Colombian government are conducting peace talks, the first cycle of which took place in Caracas and the second is expected to start in Mexico on January 20.
Londoño, then known as a guerrilla under the alias “Timochenko”, added: “In this way, I will be ready to speak to you, Antonio, if you wish, in the place and under the conditions that the government of the President (Gustavo) Petro and the authorities allow it.”
In the letter, the former guerrilla chief assures that the experience of the Havana peace negotiations that led to the signing of the agreement in November 2016 “has shown us that the enemies of peace are strong and powerful”, but “none of them They are part of the current government and, on the contrary, follow any attempt to find a negotiated solution to the conflict that is going on in the country.”
Londoño also trusted that “internal deliberations throughout the National Liberation Army militancy will be fed with proposals aimed at reaching a peace agreement with the Colombian state without delay.”
Last Monday, the ELN assured that peace negotiations with the Colombian government were “in crisis” after Petro announced a bilateral ceasefire, which the guerrillas do not recognize because it was not agreed at the negotiating table in Caracas.
An ELN statement said: “Since the government does not follow the processes of discussion of the round table (negotiation) and takes unilateral measures and makes them public, these processes bring the development of the round table into a crisis.”
The guerrilla also warned that “the bilateral ceasefire is an issue that has yet to be discussed and on which we do not yet have an agreement,” commenting on the government’s announcement that Petro will hold dialogues on the night of 31″.
Petro has defended a “total peace” policy, with which it intends to link various armed groups operating in the country to begin peace negotiations, although at the moment the ELN is the only one with which formal dialogue has begun. EFE
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