Cuba will remain as the guarantor of the peace agreement with the FARC, despite the diplomatic impasse with Colombia

Rogelio Sierra, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba

(CNN Spanish) - The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Rogelio Sierra, confirmed this Thursday at a press conference from Havana that Cuba will maintain as guarantor of the implementation of the peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) despite the fact that it is contradictory that the Iván Duque government is unaware of the dialogue with the National Liberation Army (ELN).

"For Cuba it is totally contradictory that, on the one hand, the Colombian government recognizes the role that my country has played, both in the peace process and in the implementation of the peace agreements with the FARC and the government and that, for On the other hand, be unaware that there is also a peace dialogue with the ELN, "said the Cuban official.

The Colombian government broke off talks seeking a peace agreement with the ELN after the car bomb attack against the Cadet School in Bogotá, committed by the ELN on January 17, 2019, in which 22 students died. Since then, Colombian President Iván Duque has asked Cuba to extradite ELN leaders who remain in that country to be tried by Colombian justice.

The presence of ELN members in Cuba included the island in the list of countries that shelter terrorists, according to a report by the United States State Department. Sierran insisted that the presence of the ELN peace delegation in Cuba was recognized during the first four months of President Duque's government and responds to a formal request from Colombia. "They did not come fleeing and they are in our country because the Colombian state authorized their trip," said Sierra.

As a result of that decision by the US government, Cuba issued a declaration of rejection on June 4 in which it considered that the role of the island on the road to peace in Colombia was misrepresented. On June 5, the Foreign Ministry of Colombia issued a statement in which it stated that “the Colombian government appreciates and recognizes the important role that the Government of Cuba has played in accompanying the implementation of the Peace with Legality policy in which the commitments contained in the Final Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict signed by the National Government with the former FARC guerrilla in November 2016 are honored. ” Furthermore, they consider that “the relations of the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Cuba must be above the claims of the terrorist group ELN, which, through its actions, intervenes in the implementation of the agreements with the FARC and hinders the desired peace for Colombians, ”added the statement from the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Vice Foreign Minister Sierra closed the press conference this Thursday, stating that "Cuba expects the Colombian government to comply with the agreements it has signed with other nations and other states, including Cuba, also in its capacity as guarantor and in particular to regarding the application of the protocol of rupture of the peace dialogues of the government and the ELN ”.