This Thursday morning, a team led by the High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Álvaro Leyva, traveled to Cuba. The team traveled with the aim of generating approaches for the dialogues with the ELN guerrillas.
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The meeting between the commission sent by President Gustavo Petro and the ELN, As Cuban government sources confirmed to EL TIEMPO, it started at 6 in the Colombian afternoon (7 pm Havana time).
Once the meeting was over, Foreign Minister Leyva made a public statement.
“We aspire to resume talks with the ELN in this land of peace in order to begin the path proposed by President Petro Urrego and achieve total peace.“, said.
After thanking the hospitality of the island government, highlighted the new welcome to the purposes of reconciliation.
Similarly, on behalf of the government, Leyva rejected statements against Cuba as a “sponsor of terrorism.”
Regarding this issue, the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, stated that “the costs and humanitarian consequences are incalculable” due to the classification of the island as a country sponsor of terrorism.
“Cuba is a country that promotes peace, which over the years has contributed in a modest and selfless way to the search for and achievement of the much-loved and necessary peace for sister Colombia.“, said.
What is known about the dialogues?
President Petro assured in recent days that the negotiations would be resumed from the same point they left off four years ago, when former President Duque stopped them.
He also pointed out that this team led by Danilo Rueda has the task of verifying whether or not there is real interest on the part of the ELN to start a negotiation.
For his part, the top leader of the ELN, Eliécer Erlinto Chamorro, alias Antonio García, has said that the talks should be resumed at the point they were at the end of the government of former President Juan Manuel Santos.
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“We’ve always said that it’s about picking up where you left off. In any case, the two new delegations at the table should examine it when they meet,” said Chamorro, who added that these dialogues and possible agreements would take place in the context of the “great country negotiation“which is showing up.
BRIEFCASE
With information from EL TIEMPO*
