The first left government in Colombia, who came into office on August 7, resumed peace talks in November to try to end the last internal armed conflict on the continent.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
The announcement was made in a tweet broadcast on the eve of the New Year. The Colombian government has concluded a six-month-old ceasefire with the five main armed groups operating in the country-the guerrilla warfare of the National Liberation Army (ELN), dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the gangs of drug traffickers -, announced President Gustavo Petro, Saturday December 31, 2022.
“We have agreed a bilateral ceasefire with the ELN, [the dissident groups of the FARC] Segunda Marquetalia [and] central staff, the AGC [Gaïtanis auto-defense militias in Colombia] and the forces self -defense of Sierra Nevada, from 1 er January to June 30, 2023, the extension of which will depend on the progress made in negotiations, “said the head of state on the social network.
hemos acordado a bilateral cerd eln, the segunda marquetalia, el estado mayor central, las agc y las autudef… https://t.co/z1bkyzuz84
The truce bilaterally concluded was the main objective of the government in the context of its initiative of “total peace” to end the conflict that persists despite the dissolution of the FARC in 2017. Colombia, the world’s main producer of cocaine, suffered More than half a century of armed conflict between the State and various groups of leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers.
The first left government in Colombia, coming into office on August 7, resumed the peace talks suspended by the former government of Ivan Duque (2018-2022) in November to try to end the last armed conflict internal of the continent through negotiations.
Ten thousand armed men
Negotiations are underway, constantly bilateral, with Cuba, Norway and Venezuela as guarantors. Mexico also plans to support negotiations and should welcome them soon. However, these discussions have so far not allowed to stop violence across the country.
Negotiations take place with the ELN, the last guerrillas constituted as such active in Colombia while the FARC signed a peace agreement in 2016. The ELN was founded in 1964 by unionists and sympathizing students ‘Ernesto “Che” Guevara and the Cuban Revolution.
At the same time, separate “exploratory dialogues” take place between delegates from Mr. Petro and the Segunda Marquetalia and Central Staff groups, dissidents of the FARC. AGC militias, made up of far -right paramilitaries demobilized in the early 2000s, are the armed wing of the Gulf clan, the main gang of Colombian drug traffickers.
The government proposes “an indulgent treatment from a judicial point of view” to members of armed groups in exchange for their dismantling, recently explained to AFP Ivan Cepeda, a Progantenemental Senator and negotiator with the rebels. According to the NGO Indpaz, nearly ninety political or criminal groups operate today in Colombia, with a total of ten thousand armed men. In 2022, Indpaz counted nearly a hundred massacres in which these groups would be involved.