The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, ratified this Sunday his country’s commitment to peace in Colombia in a congratulatory message sent to the new president of the South American country for his investiture.
“I congratulate the President Gustavo Petro (…) and I wish you success in this new stage that begins after the victory achieved with great popular support“, he wrote on his Twitter profile.
“I ratify Cuba’s commitment to peace in Colombia,” the president added.
I congratulate the President @petrogustavo who will soon take office and I wish him success in this new stage that begins after the victory achieved with great popular support. I confirm the commitment of #Cuba with peace in Colombia. pic.twitter.com/02IruMfAFO
– Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) August 7, 2022
Petro was elected on June 19 in the second round of the presidential elections and on this day the former guerrilla of the demobilized April 19 Movement (M-19) became the first left-wing president of Colombia
Shortly after his election, Petro proposed to the Cuban government his sponsorship to resume peace talks with the guerrilla National Liberation Army (ELN). He then said that he wanted to return to the protocol already established in the negotiations that “allows the continuation of the ELN talks there (in Havana)”.
Cuba played a crucial role in the peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group as one of the guarantor countries and host of the talks during the four years.
These ended with the signing of the Peace Agreement between the Government of Bogotá —then chaired by Juan Manuel Santos— and the insurgents on November 24, 2016.
After that agreement, Colombia began a similar process with the National Liberation Army (ELN) in 2017, which began in Ecuador but moved to Havana the following year.
Colombia: Petro will propose a bilateral ceasefire with “all armed groups”
However, the 2019 attack by the guerrilla group against the Police Cadet School in Bogotá —which left 22 dead and 66 wounded— led the Government of Iván Duque to definitively break off the talks and demand the return of the insurgents.
Cuba, which condemned this terrorist act, has refused to extradite the negotiators of the ELN —the last guerrilla in Colombia after the peace agreement that disarmed the extinct FARC— under the terms of the pact signed by the previous Colombian government in case from a halt in conversations.
In November 2021, on the fifth anniversary of the agreement with the FARC, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, highlighted his government’s “unalterable” commitment to peace in Colombia.
Likewise, he referred to his country’s “principled” position regarding the Colombian armed conflict, and affirmed that Cuba will continue to support initiatives for a negotiated political solution.
Likewise, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, who is in Bogotá for the investiture, expressed in his congratulations after winning the presidency Cuba’s “unalterable commitment” to peace in Colombia and the will to “deepen bilateral relations.”
