By Maria Josefina Arce.
A truce declared unilaterally by the guerrilla ELN, the National Liberation Army, came into effect on the 24th, a gesture of goodwill that was very well received by the government of Gustavo Petro, which has opted for total peace in Colombia.
Interior Minister and government spokesman Alfonso Prada pointed out that the ELN has listened to the community, which supports peace and calls for a de-escalation of the conflict in different areas of the South American country.
Petro has resumed dialogue with the insurgent group paralyzed by his predecessor at the Casa de Nariño, Iván Duque. And in order to create an atmosphere of trust, a first step was to suspend the arrest and extradition warrants against the group’s negotiators in order to involve them in the political process.
Both parties have already held a first round of talks in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, which ended on the 12th. A second round is scheduled for next January in Mexico.
At this first meeting, it was agreed to facilitate the return of the Embera indigenous communities to their lands from which they had been forcibly displaced.
But the Colombian authorities have taken other steps to advance the much-needed and expected peace. This is how they try to implement the various aspects of the agreement signed in Havana in 2016 between the government of then President Juan Manuel Santos and the former guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People’s Army.
The Comprehensive Rural Reform is one of the items still waiting to be implemented, as the government of former President Iván Duque never made any progress in its implementation.
Petro has already reached a historic agreement with FEDEGAN, the Colombian ranchers’ association, to purchase three million hectares of land to be delivered to farming families.
Many obstacles were placed in the way of the Havana Accords. The Special Justice for Peace, in addition to the delay in its formation due to Duque’s objections, had to operate on a tight budget. Likewise, there was a four-year wait for the 16 peacetime seats in Congress for those representing victims living in areas affected by the armed conflict.
The protection of the former guerrillas who opted for peace and laid down their arms was also not effective. More than 200 were murdered under Duque’s mandate.
Although the road is not easy, there are still irregular armed groups operating on Colombian territory, Gustavo Petro came into the presidency with power, determined to finally seek peace in Colombia, a debt to society marred by decades of armed conflict bled dry by conflict and a wave of violence.