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Petro invites an opponent to talks with the ELN, while delegations prepare to begin negotiations in Venezuela

2022-11-18T12:29:42.230Z


Peace talks between the government of Gustavo Petro and the ELN could begin in the coming days in Venezuela, with two delegations willing to end a negotiation that began years ago during the government of Juan Manuel Santos. 


The Government of Petro and the ELN reinstate the talks table 4:01

(CNN Spanish) --

The peace talks of the government of President Gustavo Petro with the ELN guerrilla, the second largest and oldest in the country after the extinct FARC, are about to begin, which configures one of the most important bets big members of the current government that seeks a negotiated solution to the armed conflict with its so-called "total peace".

In recent days, Petro has slowly configured —at least in the face of public opinion— the last details of what will be the peace negotiations with the ELN, whose rapprochement began from the beginning of his government with the announcement of the resumption of of this process, which began with the government of President Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) and was interrupted during the government of Iván Duque (2018-2022) after a deadly terrorist attack at the largest police school in the country and the refusal to of the guerrilla not to release the kidnapped.

Now, after months of announcements of rapprochement between the parties, the Petro government and ELN leaders are about to start negotiations for the disarmament of this group, with Venezuela as the guarantor country and venue for the negotiations, as well as with a surprise ingredient. revealed this Thursday: José Felix Lafaurie, a union leader close to Uribismo and a strong opponent of Petro, as part of the government negotiating team.

This is what we know about how the peace process with the ELN is progressing.

  • Colombian Congress approves law to negotiate peace with armed groups such as the ELN, FARC factions and others

The commanders of the National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN), (LR) Aureliano Carbonel, Pablo Beltrán and Antonio García, the Commissioner for Peace of the Government of Colombia, Danilo Rueda (2-R) and Colombian Senator Iván Cepeda (R ) participate in a document signing ceremony after announcing new peace talks, in Caracas, on October 4, 2022. (Credit: YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

The government negotiating team

One of the president's announcements that took many by surprise occurred this Thursday when Petro invited the ranchers' union leader, José Félix Lafaurie, to be part of the negotiating team with the ELN.

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"So, José Félix, with his mentality, with his ways of thinking, with his representation of a sector of society that undoubtedly has something and a lot to say, your presence will be valuable in the dialogues that have begun with the ELN and hopefully they will be the initial realization of what we call Total Peace”, Petro said this Thursday during the opening of the Congress of the country's cattle union.

Lafaurie, a right-wing trade union leader, very critical of Petro and close to former President Álvaro Uribe, is the husband of Senator María Fernanda Cabal, a senator from the Democratic Center, one of Petro's staunchest opponents.

Fedegan's president said the proposal was surprising.

#AEstaHora The President of the Republic, @petrogustavo, intervenes in the 39 #Livestock Congress.

The president has asked me to be part of the negotiating team on behalf of the government in the dialogues with the #ELN.#DerribandoMitos#ConstruyendoGanadería pic.twitter.com/uA0H4xPx7n

— José Félix Lafaurie (@jflafaurie) November 18, 2022

"What I see is that it starts at this moment from the livestock sector, what it has asked me is that I accept it and finally I am a union leader who owes me to the livestock sector... and my obligation is to continue complying with the sector", Lafaurie told reporters on Thursday.

Lafaurie added that the livestock sector is the ones who have been hit hardest by the violence.

"If the president asks me to collaborate in this direction, I will do it with the commitment that obliges me in a sector like ours," he said.

With this movement, Petro seeks to bring the livestock sector closer to some key discussions for the country and not leave them aside in the construction of his plan to negotiate with illegal armed groups and achieve the so-called "Total Peace", banner of his government.

Another member of the government's negotiating team with the ELN will be Otty Patiño, a former militant of the M-19 guerrilla to which Petro belonged, as confirmed by the president to journalists on Thursday when asked about the government delegation, Reuters reported. .

The list of government negotiators is expected to be released this weekend, the High Commissioner for Peace announced.

Local media have mentioned senators Iván Cepeda and María José Pizarro as members of the government negotiating commission.

  • What has the history of the peace processes with the ELN in Colombia been like?

  • What is the "total peace" that Petro proposes and which armed groups have shown interest in taking refuge?

Maduro agrees to act as guarantor in peace negotiations 2:27

The ELN negotiating team

Among the ELN leaders that will make up the peace delegation are several names of veteran members of this guerrilla such as Eliécer Herlinto Chamorro, known by the alias "Antonio García", leader of this organization since 2021. There is also alias Pablo Beltrán, second guerrilla commander who, along with 'García', have signed the joint communiqués and have met with government delegates to pave the way for dialogue.

There is also Aureliano Carbonell, whose real name is Víctor Orlando Cubides, who is considered one of the "intellectuals" of this guerrilla.

He is also known as "Pablo Tejada".

Other ELN negotiators for the peace talks are Gustavo Aníbal Giraldo Quinchía, alias "Pablito";

Rafael Sierra Granados, alias 'Ramiro Vargas', María Consuelo Tapias, Silvana Guerrero, Isabel Torres, Óscar Serrano, Vivian Henao, Ricardo Pérez, Cataleya Jiménez, Eduin Restrepo, Américo Trespalacios, Manuela Márquez, Mauricio Iguarán and Simón Babón.

The Prosecutor's Office issued an arrest warrant for all of them.

Arrest warrants lifted against ELN negotiating team

In order for ELN leaders to attend the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and this guerrilla group in Venezuela, the Colombian Prosecutor's Office suspended the arrest and extradition orders against 17 representatives of the National Liberation Army.

"The provisions of the Attorney General of the Nation in Resolution 00825 of 2022 will be communicated to the judicial police authorities of the national and international order, including Interpol, for the purpose of immediate and strict compliance," the statement added.

President Petro said last August that by lifting these arrest warrants he would try to "build the path, hopefully quickly and expeditiously, whereby this organization ceases to be a Colombian insurgent guerrilla."

The Colombian government decided on August 21 to suspend the arrest warrants and extradition requests against the delegates who were in Cuba to facilitate new peace approaches.

The rebel group announced its willingness to advance in a peace process with the new government, which it asked to implement economic and social reforms to face exclusion and inequality.

The peace negotiations of previous governments with the ELN, which has some 2,400 combatants and is accused of financing itself from kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking and illegal mining, did not advance due to its radical positions, a diffuse chain of command and disagreements between their ranks, reported Reuters.

Petro resumes negotiations with the ELN 2:51

Negotiations will begin in Venezuela

ELN delegates remain in Venezuela after they traveled from Cuba following Petro's victory in the presidential election.

The talks are expected to begin formally next week.

Venezuela is a key country in the negotiations with the ELN, because according to President Petro, that is where the guerrilla leaders are, who also have a strong armed presence in the neighboring country.

In addition, in the protocols agreed with the government of Juan Manuel Santos, it was established that Venezuela was the agreed country for the return of the ELN peace delegates in case the process broke down or if they needed to return to consult with their troops.

On September 14, 2022, President Gustavo Petro asked Maduro to be a guarantor in an eventual peace process with the guerrilla group.

A request to which Maduro immediately agreed

Venezuela was a partner in the peace talks between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC guerrilla that was signed in 2016. The support and mediation of President Hugo Chávez allowed in the first decade of the 2000s, when the armed conflict was in one of its worst moments, the release of hostages at the hands of the FARC.

And in 1990 the then president Carlos Andrés Pérez supported the demobilization of the M-19 guerrilla, and was a mediator for the Socialist International to receive the weapons of the demobilized guerrilla, according to the national press.

The ELN is one of the largest guerrilla forces still active in Colombia and Venezuela.

The guerrilla group was born as a Marxist insurgent force in the 1960s, and now finances activities through kidnapping, extortion and involvement in drug trafficking.

In recent years it has expanded its operations in southern Venezuela where it controls illegal mining operations.

Now it is expected to reach a final agreement, following a six-point agenda agreed upon during the Santos government, to disarm one of the oldest guerrillas on the continent.

-- With information from Fernando Ramos, Melissa Velásquez and Osmary Hernández of CNN en Español;

and information from Reuters. 

Dialogues with ELNGustavo Petro

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-11-18

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