The government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) officially signed on Tuesday February 6 in Havana an agreement to extend a ceasefire for six months, with the commitment on the part of the guerrillas to put an end to its practice of kidnappings. 

“Who said that peace was easy? But who can deny that each new advance is worth it (...) Today we have a consolidated extension of the ceasefire of 180 days,” declared the head of the government delegation, Vera Grabe, after officially signing the agreement with the representative of the ELN, Pablo Beltran. 

The announcement that the two parties had reached an agreement was made on the night of Monday to Tuesday, shortly before the entry into force of the extension of the ceasefire. “We have agreed to extend from midnight on February 6, 2024 for one hundred and eighty (180) days the bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire” indicated a document distributed on X (formerly Twitter ) by both parties. 

During the official signing, the head of the ELN delegation stressed that the two parties had strived to establish a “more robust” agreement, with “new commitments”. In the text released overnight, the far-left rebel group undertakes to abandon its practice of kidnappings with extortion. “The National Liberation Army (ELN) to contribute to the development of the bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire unilaterally and temporarily suspends detentions of an economic nature,” it is written.

The kidnapping by the rebel group at the end of October of the father of Colombian footballer Luis Diaz, released 12 days later, had jeopardized the peace process begun at the end of 2022. 

"Historical"

“It is a historical fact that the ELN decides to suspend economic detentions as the ELN calls them,” said Vera Grabe. 

In a statement released Tuesday in Bogota, the Office of the People's Defender, an independent public body, reminded the ELN of "the urgent need to make it known how many people" were in the hands of the guerrillas, and asked that they are released "safe and sound". 

The conclusion of this Havana round of talks, the sixth since the start of the peace process, has been delayed twice. On Monday, the two parties postponed the official closing ceremony by 24 hours, while a week earlier, the truce, which ended on January 29, was extended by seven days to give negotiators additional time. 

The next session of talks will take place from April in Caracas, both parties said. The rotating seat of the negotiations is shared between Venezuela, Mexico and Cuba, which play the role of guarantors with the governments of Brazil, Chile and Norway. Added to these countries are Germany, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, which are accompanying the talks, as well as a representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing president in Colombia's history, has begun talks with the main armed groups operating in the country. With the ELN, but also dissidents from the Marxist Farc (who reject the historic 2016 peace agreement), paramilitary groups and drug traffickers.

This policy of “total peace” faces numerous obstacles and is severely criticized by the opposition, while some of these armed groups have increased their actions to increase their territorial influence.

With AFP

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