The delegation of the National Liberation Army (ELN) negotiating peace with the Government in Havana Colombian He affirmed this Tuesday that he “continues working” to reach a bilateral ceasefire.
The Colombian guerrilla pointed out on Twitter that achieving this objective, one of the items on the agenda of the current cycle of talks, would make it possible “to develop the Mexico Agreement.”
A Ceasefire requires an in-depth exercise of discussion, analysis, and agreement that allows for an effective and feasible design. The @DelegationEln continues working to achieve a bilateral and national Cessation that enables the development of the #MexicoAgreement.
– ELN Delegation (@DelegacionEln) May 23, 2023
Said document, signed in Mexico, includes the road map of this new attempt to bring positions between the two parties closer and reach a definitive agreement.
The bilateral ceasefire and the participation of civil society in the peace process are two of the three issues scheduled for this third cycle of dialogues that the Cuban capital has been hosting since the beginning of May.
The third topic is humanitarian relief.
Both parties resumed the current dialogues after the “pause” requested by the guerrillas last week due to statements by the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro.
The delegations reported that they were making this decision “after having made an initial exchange of clarifications” and after reaffirming “the political nature” of the dialogue table and of the ELN “as a rebel armed organization.”
Cuba, one of the guarantor countries of the process, formally hosted the peace negotiations on May 2 after the two previous cycles, held in Venezuela (November) and Mexico (March). This cycle was expected to last around a month.
Contacts between the Colombian government and the ELN began in 2017 in Quito under the presidency of Juan Manuel Santos, who had just signed peace in 2016 with the now demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Colombian government and ELN guerrillas resume negotiations in Havana
The following year they continued in Havana, also the headquarters of the previous process with the FARC, but they were suspended by President Iván Duque in 2019 after the ELN attack against a cadet school in Bogotá.
The dialogues were resumed last year, with the arrival of Petro to the presidency.
Efe/OnCuba.
