The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, accepted the invitation of the Colombian Government and the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN). to accompany the peace talks that are taking place in Venezuela.
This was reported by the High Commissioner for Peace of Colombia, Danilo Rueda, who published a letter he received from the Portuguese in which he appointed his representative to participate in the dialogues.
“I have the honor to refer to your letter by which you make me a participant in the successful resumption of talks between the National Government of the Republic of Colombia and the ELN. I appreciate your invitation to participate as a permanent companion in this important process,” indicated the letter uploaded by Rueda to his Twitter account.
“I congratulate the parties for having reached this essential first stage and I wish you every success in the peace talks. I am honored by the trust they have placed in the United Nations and I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our firm support to accompany the parties in the search for the peace that the Colombian people so long for,” the text added.
Guterres thanked the “close cooperation” with the head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Massieuwhom he also appointed to accompany the peace talks on behalf of the organization.
“I appreciate the trust placed by the parties to accompany the peace talks between the National Government and the ELN. I reiterate our firm support for the search for peace in Colombia”reacted Ruiz Massieu, also on Twitter.
The left government and the insurgent organization, of Marxist extraction, reinstalled on November 21 in Caracas the negotiations under the slogan “peace is our dream, change is our path”.
The negotiations have as guarantor countries Venezuela, Cuba and Norway, and the parties invited Chile, Brazil and Mexico to join in that condition, and the United States, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain as companions, as well as the UN Secretary General.
Dialogues with the ELN were frozen during the conservative government of Iván Duque, and they were completely cut off in January 2019 after the guerrillas blew up a car bomb in a Cadet School in Bogotá, with a balance of 22 deaths.
I appreciate the trust placed by the parties, @infopresidencia Y @DelegationEln, at the United Nations to accompany the peace talks table between the National Government and the ELN. I reiterate our firm support for the search for peace in Colombia. https://t.co/aBRsQcsVol
— Carlos Ruiz Massieu (@CGRuizMassieu) December 10, 2022
Now with Gustavo Petro in the Government, the parties announced in October the resumption of peace talks.
The ELN, founded in 1964, is the last recognized guerrilla in Colombia and has held unsuccessful negotiations with the last five presidents.
Petro promoted peace negotiations from the campaign, not only with the ELN, but with other armed groups in search of agreements similar to those that disarmed the FARC in 2016 and turned them into a party.
