The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) agreed on a ceasefire agreement on the 10th. Photo: ⓒTwitter/@IvanCepedaCast.
The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) reached a bilateral ceasefire agreement on Friday, signed at the end of the second cycle of peace talks in Mexico.
“The bilateral ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities in order to create the conditions for overcoming the armed conflict” is one of the points of the agreement, which also includes the recognition by the government of the political status of the ELN as an “armed rebel organization.”
Among the points is the construction of a political and social alliance that will lead to a national agreement, as well as the recognition of the victims of the conflict and their reparation with guarantees of non-repetition, and a review of the factors that threaten the reconciliation of the country.
Colombia: Peace Talks Progress as Government Recognizes ELN as ‘Political Organization’
“We were able to begin to address the most urgent, heartfelt and sensitive issues, such as the ceasefire, and we also opened the doors wide to citizen and community participation,” said Otty Patiño, chief negotiator for the Colombian government.
For his part, the guerrilla known as Pablo Beltrán, chief negotiator for the ELN, stressed that “the first steps have been taken to achieve a bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire” and considered that “we all have to change to achieve a comprehensive and lasting peace, we all have to participate in its design and realization.”
The third phase of the peace talks between the Colombian government and the ELN will occur in Cuba on a date to be determined.
These negotiations began in 2017 and were interrupted for four years until their resumption in 2022 in Venezuela, a guarantor of the peace process along with Cuba, Norway, Mexico, Chile and Brazil, and with Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Spain as accompanying countries.
