The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced, this Thursday, September 22, that in a matter of days a multilateral ceasefire with various armed groups who have approached the Government in their draft ‘complete peace’.
“In a matter of days, a public issue will also be raised, the possibility of a multilateral ceasefire that would be the beginning of the end of violence in Colombia.Petro said in a statement to the media in New York, where he was visiting to participate in the UN General Assembly.
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This ceasefire involves several groups that have approached the government in recent weeks, said the president, but He did not give details of which or how many.
“It will involve all those who want a negotiation process with the justice system in Colombia to dismantle criminal organizations. What we propose is to cease hostilities, death, cease fire“, detailed the president before heading to the airport to return to Colombia.
Since he became president on August 7, Petro has embarked on a path of dialogue with various armed groups in order to achieve a peace agreement or their submission to justice.
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The first steps have been in Havana (Cuba), where a delegation from the Colombian Government once again sat down with delegates from the National Liberation Army (ELN) to resume the dialogues that have been stalled for four years due to clashes with the previous mandate of Iván Duque and because The guerrilla has never ceased its actions, executing attacks, kidnappings and other crimes.
In mid-September, a government delegation and another from the former FARC dissidents had a “exploratory meeting“in the department of Caquetá for”Assess the possibility of initiating dialogues in the framework of total peace“, which would include, precisely, this bilateral ceasefire.
Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, during his visit to New York by the UN General Assembly.
Petro then announced that he began “a dialog“with this group that brings together the majority of fronts that left the peace agreement or never reached it, except for the Second Marquetalia, commanded by Luciano Marín Arango, alias Iván Márquez, which is a much smaller group.
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If this multilateral ceasefire is confirmed, it would be the first great act to stop the conflict since peace was signed with the FARC in 2016 and the dialogues with the ELN were paralyzed in 2018.
The last major attack that occurred in Colombia was that of January 17, 2019, in the General Santander Police Cadet School, in Bogotá, which left 23 dead and almost a hundred wounded.
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EFE
