Mexico City, Dec 17 (EFE).- The peace dialogue table between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) moves to Cuba in early 2024. Meanwhile, the fifth cycle of dialogues ends in Mexico City with “solid” progress towards peace, including a commitment by the guerrillas to stop kidnapping for economic gain.
“I am proud and honored to bring good news to Colombia. After critical moments in this process, we are moving firmly towards peace,” said the Colombian government’s new chief negotiator with the ELN guerrillas, Vera Grabe, at the closing ceremony of the new round of dialogues.
At the end of last month, the delegation of the Colombian government announced that representatives from both sides would meet to focus their efforts on overcoming the issues that currently affects the dialogues.
This crisis was triggered when Luis Manuel Díaz, the father of the Liverpool soccer player Luis Díaz, was kidnapped by the ELN for 12 days.
Grabe said that “if we take advantage of a crisis, it strengthens us, becoming a possibility,” she also affirmed that achieving peace is a “revolutionary” act.
In this sense, she pointed out that the most relevant announcement for peace in Colombia is the ELN’s statement of the suspension of what they call “economic retentions,” linked to the extension of the ceasefire from January 2024.
ELN reaffirmed the search for a peace process, with the creation of the conditions to extend the truce and the economic and financial for the implementation of the agreement made in Mexico.
It was also agreed to resume society’s involvement, with its design phase set to conclude in April next year, and the establishment of a national network of participation.
In addition, they will create eight critical zones for humanitarian action and a commission to coordinate the plans of attention and social transformation of these zones.
For his part, the head of the ELN delegation, known as “Pablo Beltrán,” reiterated that the guerrillas and the Colombian government have the same objective: peace.
“We are partners, we are responsible for building this mandate,” he stressed at the same event.
For this reason, he reiterated that the peace dialogues are contributing to change the culture of confrontation and the search for reconciliation in the Andean country.
However, he pointed out that making progress in building peace becomes challenging when media wars overshadow the achievements, and attention shifts from progress to conflicts and tensions. EFE
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