Colombia’s most sensible peace officer and a representative of the ELN guerrilla organization announced Wednesday the resumption of formal peace talks.
At a press conference in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Peace Commissioner Danilo Rueda and ELN representatives, talks suspended in 2018 were to resume in November.
In the guerrillas’ call, ELN commanders “Alvaro Garcia” and “Pablo Beltran” welcomed the official communique.
Also present was Raúl Rosende of the UN project in Colombia, as well as representatives of the guarantor countries, Norway, Cuba and Venezuela.
Negotiators said the resumption of negotiations will follow the timeline of peace talks agreed between former President Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN in 2017.
This implies that government and guerrilla negotiators will continue to communicate about citizen participation in peace communiqués and an imaginable peace process.
What it will replace is that the talks will continue in Cuba, but will rotate among all the guarantor countries.
The place of the talks and the operation of this rotation formula have been announced.
Another notable factor is the formation of negotiation teams.
Those main points are expected to be announced in a few days.
Peace talks officially began in 2017 after years of secret negotiations between Colombia’s oldest organization and the Santos government.
Former President Iván Duque suspended talks after taking office in 2018.
President Gustavo Petro, who took office in August, said negotiations could come with an initial ceasefire agreement.
However, such a ceasefire would require negotiations on follow-up compliance.
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