The Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia of the Organization of American States (OAS) supported the announcement by President Gustavo Petro of a six-month ceasefire pact with at least five armed groups.
The OAS delegation assured that they accept the call as part of the verification scheme and that they will continue to provide all the knowledge and commitment to achieve peace in the nation.
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“This decision is the product of the will for dialogue between the parties, effective from January 1, 2023 and for six months, it is a positive and hopeful sign of a path that leads to the cessation of violence carried out by different armed groups, to complete peace and reconciliation”, the OAS mission in a release spread on their social networks.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro reported that his administration has agreed to a six-month ceasefire with the five main armed groups operating in the country.
“We have agreed a bilateral cessation with the ELN, the Segunda Marquetalia, the Central General Staff, the AGC (Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) and the Sierra Nevada Self-Defense Forces from January 1 to June 30, 2023, extendable according to the progress in the negotiations,” the president wrote a few minutes after the end of 2022.
Petro came to the presidency with the banner of maintaining a policy of “total peace”, to extinguish through dialogue the armed conflict that persists in Colombia despite the dissolution of the powerful guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2017 .
RELEASE | We greet with hope the president’s announcement @petrogustavo to establish a ceasefire with 5 armed groups. The @MAPPOEA accepts the call as part of the verification scheme and will continue to provide all the knowledge and commitment to achieve #CompletePeace pic.twitter.com/ufrUy9Hct8
— MAPP/OAS (@MAPPOEA) January 2, 2023