The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas have signed a "national", "bilateral" and "temporary" ceasefire in Havana for a period of six months. "A new world is born here, a phase of the armed insurgency in Latin America with its myths and realities ends here," Colombian President Gustavo Petro said during the signing of the agreement in the presence of the ELN's top chief, Antonio García. , for whom an arrest warrant was pending until this week.
The ELN, founded in 1964, had 5,850 fighters in 2022, according to Colombian authorities, and is the oldest active guerrilla in Latin America. The text, signed by the chief negotiators of the Colombian government, Otty Patiño, and of the ELN, Pablo Beltrán, contemplates "immediate compliance with the agreements with Cuba," among which is "the national and temporary bilateral ceasefire," said the Cuban foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, when reading the points of the document.
The signing, which was also attended by the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, took place at the closing of the third cycle of the Roundtable for Peace Dialogues, which began on May 2 in Havana. Antonio García, whose presence in Havana surprised, was cautious: "We have not signed substantial agreements", but only "procedural agreements", he pointed out.
"This peace process has to be different, we have to see changes," said the leader of the Guevarista guerrilla, inspired by the Cuban revolution. Patiño, a Colombian government negotiator, agreed that "the challenges are innumerable, but they are all worth (...) facing them."
The Cuban foreign minister informed that the fourth round of negotiations will be held in Caracas between August 14 and September 4. The only bilateral truce agreed before by both parties was for 101 days between 2017 and 2018.
The document signed this Friday provides for the creation of "a communication channel between the parties through the special representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Colombia."
The agreement contemplates that as of August 3, the "180 days of validity" of this truce will begin, as well as the implementation of the protocols and the monitoring and verification mechanism, which will be agreed upon in the coming days.
The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, congratulated the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) for the agreement: "These are important steps that give hope to the Colombian people, especially the communities most affected by the conflict." the organization said in a statement.
The last attempt to negotiate peace between the parties began in 2018, but was frustrated a year later by an ELN car bomb attack on a police school that left 22 dead.
At the end of 2022, Petro, the first left-wing president of Colombia and a former guerrilla, promoted this process that began in November in Venezuela and continued in March in Mexico. The negotiation was on a tightrope at the end of March due to an attack with long weapons and explosives that left 10 soldiers dead near the border with Venezuela.
Bled dry by half a century of armed conflict, Colombia has attempted numerous peace negotiations with armed groups, many of them unsuccessful.
A historic pact negotiated in Havana in 2016 led to the disarmament of the powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group and transformed it into a political party.
The ELN delegation returned to Havana in May, from where it left in September 2022, after Petro came to power. His predecessor, Iván Duque (2018-2022), had reactivated in 2019, after the attack on the police school, the arrest warrants against the negotiators of the armed group and demanded his extradition.
All this paid for former US President Donald Trump to include Cuba on the list of States that sponsor terrorism. "This president of Colombia tells President (Joe) Biden and you that this was an act (reincluding Cuba on the list) of injustice that must be amended," Petro said during the ceremony.
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