The bilateral ceasefire between the national government and the ELN will start on August 3 and will last for six months.
However, said decision does not contemplate the suspension of extortion and kidnapping in the regions by the illegal group.
The foregoing was announced at the end of the third cycle of negotiations that took place in Havana, Cuba, which was closed in a formal ceremony headed by President Gustavo Petro and the commander of the ELNNicolás Rodríguez Bautista, aka Gabino,.
At the end of the meeting, it was also reported that Venezuela will once again host the talks during the fourth cycle of peace talks.
towards peace
President Gustavo Petro attended the closing ceremony of the third cycle of negotiations in Havanawhere he signed with the guerrilla group, the guarantor countries and the accompanying parties, the document that ratifies the bilateral, national ceasefire for six months.
During the closing ceremony, President Gustavo Petro He invited this ceasefire to lead to peace in May 205.
The president said “that the signing of these agreements, partial today – that lead you to a ceasefire, to a point that you have never experienced in the dialogues, to a ceasefire that continues with a promise in May 2025 –, definitively cease the decades-long war between the ELN and the State of Colombia”.
The Head of State expressed his support for the proposal to seek a National Agreement
kidnappings will continue
For his part, Pablo Beltrán, head of the guerrilla delegation, made reference to the financing of the criminal structure and the agreements that had not been reached in discussions on this topic.
In this sense, he affirmed that despite the ceasefire they would continue with the kidnappings and extortions that they called ‘withholdings and taxes’until something different is reconciled.
Beltrán stated that “We collect taxes in the regions, it will remain for now.”
The guerrilla leader explained that “the ELN’s financial operations began to be discussed here, but that discussion did not end. It will continue to be debated then, but they did not enter into these protocols, it is hoped that later they will.
the deal
The agreement that was reached, which was read by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, who represents the government of the island, a country that is guarantor of the peace process, has a stage of enlistment, preparation, implementation and verification and its full execution begins next August 3.
“The parties ratify that the dialogue table enters into a permanent activity that combines different modalities of work in different scenarios and timesmaintaining the cycles of talks”, said Foreign Minister Rodríguez.
The first of the three points of the agreement defines “preparations for the participation of society in the construction of peace”.
It defines a call for society to participate in the peace process, and the formation of preparatory teams for the installation of the so-called National Participation Committee.
It also orders the preparation of the operating regulations and the work plan of this Committee, which will be installed publicly. next July 25, 2023.
The second point of the agreement is the bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire, for six months, between the parties and which in its initial phase also has three moments.
The first of these is the beginning of the process of enlisting the bilateral ceasefire, from this June 9 to July 5, 2023when an enlistment process will take place that includes, among others, the activation of a communication channel between the parties, through the special representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Colombia.
This moment also includes the drafting of the pending protocols, the beginning of the pedagogy activities and the preparation for the implementation of the monitoring and verification mechanism.
“The orders for the cessation of offensive operations by the parties will become effective from July 6, 2023,” the text of the agreement includes.
The second moment begins on July 10, 2023, when there will be a plenary and face-to-face meeting of the peace dialogue table to approve the protocols developed during that period, the pedagogical activities will continue to be developed.
And the third moment begins on August 3, 2023 when the full implementation of the process of enlisting the national and temporary bilateral ceasefire will begin with the full application of the protocols and the full operation of the monitoring and verification mechanism in all its instances.
From that date the 180 days of validity of the enlistment process of the national bilateral ceasefire begin to count and temporary which will have the opportunity of continuity, prior evaluation of the parties.
Foreign Minister Rodríguez read the third point of the agreement and it is the definition of when and where the fourth cycle of negotiations will take place, which was defined between August 14 and September 4, 2023in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
“In which, among other issues, a balance of the signed agreements will be made,” he said.
cease fire It will have a monitoring and verification mechanism made up of the National Government, the ELN, the Catholic Church and the United Nations Organization. Those in charge will have the task of documenting, evaluating and reporting the progress and incidents that may arise in this process.
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