The leadership of the National Liberation Army (ELN), officially of the last organization guerrillas who continues the armed struggle in Colombiaassured that it is “Fully available” to resume peace talks with him elected president Gustavo Petrosafter the collapse of talks on the days of the outgoing government.
The ELN (Guevara) “Continues to actively fight and political and military resistance, but is fully prepared to proceed with a peace process that will be a continuation of the” negotiating table “that began in Quito in February 2017”the politico-military leadership of the faction stated in a press release that was made public.
Following the historic peace agreement with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016, talks with the ELN began the following year, chaired by Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018), initially in the Ecuadorian capital, before transferred to Havana, the capital of Cuba.
But they were ousted by Mr Santos’s successor, right-wing President Ivan Duque, following an attack on a police school in Bogota that killed 22 people in January 2019.
“Gustavo Petro was elected president”whose government is called upon to “Promote change for peace in Colombia”according to the ELN, whose leader is Antonio Garcia.
On August 7, Gustavo Petros, 62, formerly a member of the M-19 guerrilla city, who signed a peace agreement in 1990, will become the first incumbent left-wing president in Colombian history. He has promised to put the Andean country on track “True change”implementing a program of deep reforms, which, among other things, provides for the resumption of negotiations with the ELN.
Despite continuing to fight Colombian security forces, who have killed many of his officers, The ELN has not stopped increasing its power: of the 1,800 warriors it was estimated to have when the peace talks began, it has about 2,500 today, according to official figures..
The rebel organization, which according to the army intelligence service is mainly financed by drug trafficking and blackmail, has a strong influence on forest areas off the country in the Pacific Ocean and along the border with Venezuela, and also has an extensive network of support in urban areas.
The ELN, founded in 1964 by radicalized Catholic priests inspired by the Cuban revolution, has for thirty years held peace talks – but in all cases without fail – with the governments of Cesar Gaviria (1990-1994) (1994-1998), by Andres Pastrana (1998-2002) and Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010).
Source: News Beast
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