Total peace: Are there limits when negotiating in the middle of war?

The total peace of President Gustavo Petro is probably going through one of its most complicated moments, in the midst of what would be a hard struggle between the ambitions of the government and those of the different armed groups in the country. Some of which have opted for different paths to demonstrate their power in the midst of negotiations or, in the worst case, take advantage of the government’s outstretched arm.

The truth is that the challenge that this peace effort entails for the government in political and social matters is not small, beginning with the ELN, which until a few weeks ago was understood as one of the most advanced negotiating fronts of the government, with the second cycle running. The same that now falters due to what has been interpreted in some sectors as insufficient signs of peace or even a war footing..

Probably one of the events that has most marked this process recently was the murder of nine soldiers in Norte de Santander, one of the departments with the greatest presence of this guerrilla. Of these men, two were non-commissioned officers and seven boys were doing military service.

Young people who, for the most part, fulfilled their task, as part of the Energy and Road Battalion number 10, of taking care of the roads and the strategic infrastructure of the country, when they were ambushed with explosives and rifle shots.

As an unfortunate coincidence, these facts contrast with the statements and public orders that the national government has made about removing young people from military service in conflict zones. A guideline that seems quite complex to comply with, taking into account account the human needs of the Army to maintain its presence in the territories.

However, yes puts between a rock and a hard place a government that on the one hand has assured that it will remain firm in peace and that he will not be the one to get up from the negotiating table with the ELN, and on the other hand, he faces emotional recriminations from the families of the soldiers killed in combat. As happened to the Minister of Defense, Iván Velasquez, with the mother of one of the young men killed in Catatumbo.

“What are these guys fighting about? A peace that where is it?Corporal Juan Mateo Benavides’s mother told the minister.

Even more serious with regard to the stability of the peace process, are the photographs that have become known in the last hours of armed members of the ELN together with six minors in the same territory where the nine soldiers died. To be more exact, in the municipality of Tibú, in Norte de Santander.

The images have been interpreted as one more provocation of the ELN to the GovernmentAlthough, according to what the mayor of Tibú told the newspaper El Tiempo, the presence of this guerrilla patrol in the territory was brief and was for the purpose of supplying food. However, the situation is still especially complex taking into account the evident violation of International Humanitarian Law involved in involving children in the conflict.

For his part, President Petro (who has not yet spoken out directly about these events) ended up involved in a political discussion after responding to these photos to Senator María Fernanda Cabal, who accused him of being “in an effort” to “hand over the country to the ELN ”.

Added to this are other ELN actions that do not demonstrate a real commitment to “total peace,” as was the attack on the Caño Limón-Coveñas pipeline (the fifth to this oil infrastructure so far this year), generating profound human, environmental and economic impacts.

What does the ELN respond?

Far from leaving their acts nameless, the ELN commander-in-chief himself, Antonio García, justified the actions of his organization ensuring that in order to analyze the recent attacks on the Public Force, they should also analyze “theThe attacks carried out by the Military and Police Forces against the ELN”.

In other tweets, he even recounted some of the government’s military actions against various members of the guerrilla, assuring that his organization “has the right to respond to the attacks it receives.”

“We have not yet agreed to a bilateral ceasefire. If we disqualify the actions carried out by the ELN, we should also disqualify those carried out by the government forces”, said the guerrilla leader.

These statements are added to the communiqué issued by the ELN delegation in which they assure that the “Military Forces continue on the offensive”, denouncing episodes in which members of their ranks have been assassinated while defenseless.

Even more alarming The ELN asserts that the armed forces act in parallel with “narco-paramilitary forces” and that even so they remain willing to negotiate peace with the government.

“We reiterate the will and our willingness to work and achieve a bilateral ceasefire, their respective protocols and the oversight and verification mechanisms,” reads the guerrilla statement.

The other fronts of total peace

as if this were littleanother of the great fronts of the total peace of the government has to do with the Clan del Golfowith whom the doors were momentarily closed after a series of events that called into question the desire for peace of said paramilitary structure.

Much of this tension comes from the mining strike that, until weeks ago, took place in Northeast Antioqueño and Bajo Cauca, and which it was even claimed had the Clan del Golfo behind it. This, due to the blows that the government would have been giving against illegal mining in those territories, specifically as response to the exploitation of some nine illegal dredges, large machinery used for the exploitation of minerals (mainly gold).

In the midst of this situation, the Clan del Golfo was accused of paying money to the people who participated in the excesses and of having attacked the Tarazá aqueduct, strongly affecting the civilian population. Even so, at the time, the Clan del Golfo decided to blame the ELN for all this.

“We are not the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces who have broken the ceasefire that we have fully complied with. As in any process, there are dark forces interested in torpedoing all the efforts made for peace.”, they assured.

Now, based on a statement to W Radio by the lawyer Ricardo Giraldo, attorney for the criminal group, it is known that the Clan del Golfo does not seek submission to justice but peace negotiations and that it will be only through this route that they will hand over their weapons. In fact, he predicted that the subjection law will be “a failure.”

An affirmation that puts total peace on edge, which clearly establishes that peace processes will only be carried out with armed groups of political overtones.a condition that is not recognized by the Clan del Golfo (even though they insist on being called the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia).

A category that could be occupied by FARC dissidences such as Iván Márquez’s Nueva Marquetalia, as affirmed by the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada. Subject that of course generated a stir, since there are those who believe that who did not comply with the original agreements of Havana, should not have the opportunity for a peace negotiation again.

Meanwhile, deep and painful images of other dissident factions of the Farc that are generating massive displacements of indigenous communities in the department of Vaupés are made public. A convulsed territory that in fact is no stranger to this scourge, since it has experienced displacement due to violence throughout the entire history of the conflict in the country.

That is the scenario facing the total peace of the Gustavo Petro government, which insists on maintaining its intentions to pacify the territory against all odds. Despite the blows that make a large part of the country constantly question what will be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back.