The National Liberation Army (ELN) of Colombia asks the government of Gustavo Petro tune a “single policy” to unfreeze the peace negotiations, paralyzed since January, to “advance as much as possible” in the process, and seek a new bilateral ceasefire, says the guerrilla chief negotiator, Israel Ramírez, alias Pablo Beltrán, andn an interview with EFE.
“We asked the Government to refine a single policy in front of this table (…), we want a single interlocutor (with him) so that if the right hand builds, the other does not destroy”said Beltrán, after the publication of a joint statement, after a meeting in Caracas, which reflects the commitment to consult with its bases to find ways to unblock the dialogue.
It is about, he explains, unleashing “knots” for “return to the work of resolving crisis factors” in the next meeting, also in the Venezuelan capital, between November 19 and 25, and “to be able to normalize the table”, which means holding a seventh round of negotiations.
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After the sixth cycle, held in January in Havana, the parties met in May – when they reached a first agreement, signing a model for civil society participation in the process, despite the fact that there were already clashes – in Caracas, same venue chosen for this week’s meeting, and the next one, in just over a month.
A seventh round – preview – would probably focus on “two great purposes: a new bilateral ceasefire – after an unprecedented halt to hostilities that lasted a year, until last August – and to get the entire process of Colombian society moving in the peace process.”
‘Dual policy’
ELN.
EL TIEMPO Archive
Beltrán criticizes the “dual policy” of the Colombian Executive, since – he exemplifies – while the peace truce lasted, which he defines as a period of “problems and successes”, there were those who sought ”military weakening” of the guerrilla, because – alert – “In the Government there are sectors very opposed to this table prospering.”
“This Government has been characterized by having several nuances, several faces (…) in front of us we ask that there be a single interlocutor, those are the consultations that they are going to make,” said.
The ELN, which in different cycles sat at the negotiating table with the Colombian Executive in Caracas, Havana and Mexico City, defends its legitimacy as “sole instance of negotiation and decision”, especially, in light of the regional dialogue that the Government established in the department of Nariño (southwest) with Comuneros del Sur, supposedly split from the ELN.
(See here: Government of Colombia and ELN meet in Caracas with a view to a new ceasefire)
“That is called perfidy, because that was prohibited in the dismissal protocols. So they already did it. “Now we said it, recognize that it is a mistake and tell us how you are going to amend it,” says Beltrán.
“If there are breaches of previous agreements, obviously we do not have much motivation to sign new agreements. At that point we are”he adds.
The guerrilla leader believes that Petro “Many times he says things that show that he is not a partner in this peace process,” which is why it urges him to exercise leadership in favor of these negotiations, since until now “Your references to this table are not so positive.”
Offer and demand
In his opinion, attending the Caracas meeting shows the “will for peace” of the ELN to reconnect the path of dialogue, especially -he emphasizes-, after two years of the Government’s commitment to remove this guerrilla from a list of criminal groups, promise that the Executive has not yet fulfilled.
“To make it clear that we are not a common criminal organization (…), our management said: well, tell the Government to make this recharacterization of the ELN (…) they have not done their homework,” he insisted.
Despite everything, Beltrán says it is time to address the problems and do “joint analysis”so that “It also makes it possible to structure joint outings”especially in the face of the 20 months left for the Petro Government, a time in which the parties committed to “advance as much as possible.”
“We would like to arrive with advance agreements on very large transformations, (…) and in the field of putting an end to the armed conflict (…) we signed protocols that cover many things about the confrontation between the ELN and the State and in the As this matures, this bilateral cessation process, we will include new aspects of the confrontation we have,” he concluded.
EFE
