What is the peace process with the ELN about?
The High Commissioner for Peace, Iván Danilo Rueda, announced this Tuesday that the new cycle would begin on May 2.
For its part, the ELN indicated that the negotiations will revolve around humanitarian relief, the participation of civil society in the process, and a bilateral ceasefire (the government also wants a ceasefire). something that could not be achieved in the second round.
The start of the third cycle has been delayed for several weeks due to the differences in the negotiating positions of both parties and the violent actions. An ELN attack at the end of March on an army unit left 10 dead.
It is also expected that the ELN negotiating delegation, headed by Pablo Beltrán, will arrive by air in Havana this Thursday.
At the moment, no meetings have been formally scheduled between the two delegations until the third cycle of peace talks officially begins next Tuesday.
The talks between the Colombian government and that guerrilla began in November in Caracas, where the first round concluded with an agreement to promote humanitarian relief in some of the regions hardest hit by the armed conflict.
The second cycle began last February in Mexico City and concluded on March 10 with the recognition by the Government of the political status of the ELN as “rebel armed organization” and the record of “advances” with a view to reaching an agreement for a bilateral ceasefire.
Negotiations between the Colombian government and the ELN resumed after Gustavo Petro became president in Bogotá and its official reactivation was announced last August in Havana after a meeting between the parties.
Cuba had previously hosted and guarantored peace negotiations between the Government of Colombia and the ELN. These conservations were suspended in 2018, when Duque paralyzed them after a year of contacts as a result of an attack in Bogotá with 23 deaths.mostly police cadets.