He Spanish government accepted this Friday the invitation of the Colombian Executive and the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN) to be an accompanying country in the Dialogue Table and the peace process in Colombiaconfirmed to efe government sources.
The decision to invite Spain was announced on November 25 by the representatives of Venezuela and Norway, guarantor countries for the negotiations, but the official letter was not received until last month according to this source.
Spain agrees to be an accompanying country in the peace process with ELN in Colombia
Spanish government sources confirmed to the EFE agency that this country agreed to be part of the peace process with the guerrillas under that figure.
— Iván Cepeda Castro (@IvanCepedaCast) February 4, 2023
Spain is now part of the group of accompaniment, support and cooperation countries (GPAAC) of the process, which also includes the United States, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Cuba, Chile, Brazil and Mexico participate as guarantors.
The invitation came after the ELN and the Executive of Colombian President Gustavo Petro agreed last November to reactivate the 2016 negotiation and form a Mesa de Diálogos mechanism accompanied by a representative of the United Nations and the Episcopal Conference of Colombia.
President Pedro Sánchez had offered himself as a mediator in the peace process to Gustavo Petro in August last year, when he visited Bogotá, according to the Madrid newspaper. The country.
Nor is it the first participation of Spain in the rapprochement with the ELN, according to the Colombian newspaper The viewer.
In February 1998, in the presidency of Andrés Pastrana, delegates of the Spanish Government and the ELN Central Joint Command signed a secret declaration at the Viana Palace in Madrid where they agreed to hold preparatory meetings for a National Convention, proposed by the armed group to the participation of citizens in the dialogues, according to the Colombian newspaper.
Government of Colombia and ELN will resume dialogue on February 13 in Mexico
Since November 2022, the Government of Colombia and the ELN have also invited Brazil to join this process.
The invitation, officially, was to “define their participation in this process as guarantor countries,” according to a joint statement that the government and ELN delegations released at the time. The second cycle of negotiations will begin on February 13 in Mexico.
Efe/OnCuba.
