Colombia: Gustavo Petro suspends arrest warrants against ELN leaders

Colombian President Gustavo Petro during a speech in Bogotá, August 19, 2022. © Fernando Vergara/AP

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In Colombia, the government and the ELN guerrillas are multiplying the proofs of goodwill with a view to the imminent resumption of peace negotiations, interrupted since 2019. The first left-wing president in the country's history, Gustavo Petro, who has took office two weeks ago, suspended the arrest warrants against the negotiators of this guerrilla.

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The resumption of peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the

has apparently never been so close.

The new president Gustavo Petro, himself a former guerrilla, has repeated during the campaign and since his election that he wants total peace with the armed groups.

And the ELN, the main guerrilla still active in the country, is also ready to negotiate.

On Wednesday, August 17, as a sign of goodwill, the guerrillas released six soldiers and police officers they were holding hostage.

Friday, August 12, the ELN had already released nine civilians.

On Saturday, Gustavo Petro responded by suspending arrest warrants and extradition orders against ELN negotiators.

Negotiators who are in Cuba today, and who will therefore be able to go to Colombia to meet the leaders of the guerrillas in order to prepare for the resumption of peace negotiations.

Negotiations also with drug traffickers

In 2016, historic peace accords ended a nearly half-century-old conflict with another guerrilla, the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

But the negotiations started with the ELN were broken off in 2019, after a deadly attack on a police school in Bogotá.

President Gustavo Petro said he was ready to dialogue also with the

, the largest group of drug traffickers currently in Colombia.

►Also listen: Interview - Colombia: the construction sites that await Gustavo Petro

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• Colombia

• Gustavo Petro