The decision was welcomed by this guerrilla warfare as essential to the continuation of the peace process initiated by the leftist president, Gustavo Petro.
MO12345LEMONDE With AFP
It must be taken as a gesture allowing to advance peace negotiations on the ground: the Colombian government has granted the National Liberation Army (ELN) the status of “rebellious army political organization”, a condition Spected as essential by guerrillas in order to distinguish them from other armed groups, such as drug traffickers, with which President Gustavo Petro also endeavors to conclude a “total peace”.
The ELN, who had threatened to end any negotiation if she did not see herself granted this status, praised on Twitter an “agreement on the questions without which it is impossible to clearly and firmly develop this process of peace : the legal qualification of the ELN as a rebellious armed political organization “.
The delegates also agreed to set up a communication channel running during the suspension of talks, the last cycle of which started on February 13 in Mexico with Chile, Venezuela, Norway, Mexico and Brazil as Guailed, as well as a bilateral truce on the agenda.
ceasefire denied
The National Liberation Army (Guévariste Inspiration), the last guerrillas constituted as such active in the country, had resumed its discussions with the government in November 2022, after four years of interruption.
President Petro, himself a former guerrillero of the M-19 movement, had decreed the 1 er a ceasefire with five armed groups, including the ELN, which has Shortly after denied the presidential announcement. At the end of January, the Colombian army had however killed nine alleged members of the guerrillas.
m. Petro, who took office in August as the first president on the left in the history of Colombia, aims to lead to a “total peace” with the multitude of armed groups operating in the country, very often involved in drug trafficking.