Colombia: ELN conditions ceasefire on normalization of negotiations

The Colombian guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) will respect a “ceasefire” when the “normal” cycle of negotiations with the government of Gustavo Petro resumes, its chief negotiator Pablo Beltran declared on Saturday, during a meeting in Caracas.

“We said there would be a new ceasefire when the negotiating table resumes its normal operating cycle. For this we must get out of the freeze in which we find ourselves,” declared on X Pablo Beltran, who announced on November 7 the resumption of negotiations, paralyzed since September.

“There will be new agreements when we have resolved the non-compliance with the old agreements, because otherwise we begin to move forward with a table that works with its feet in the mud, on false things. This is where we are,” continued Pablo Beltran, referring to the meetings that have been taking place in Caracas since Tuesday.

Do not resume a truce in force since 2023

According to Pablo Beltran, the parties are moving forward in a new negotiation model with a process of “criticism and self-criticism”. The different stages of the peace dialogue between the Colombian government and the ELN are being held alternately in Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela.

The government and the guerrillas agreed in early November in Caracas to resume peace negotiations suspended since September. Previously, the last meeting between the parties dates back to May in Caracas.

The ELN, in arms since 1964, has intensified its offensive since the beginning of August, when it decided not to resume a truce in force since 2023. The Colombian army has also resumed its operations against the rebels.

President Petro, the first left-wing man to come to power in Colombia in 2022, himself a former member in his youth of a far-left guerrilla (the M-19), is committed to exiting through dialogue six decades of armed conflict and has since negotiated with most of the country’s armed organizations.

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