What does peace in Colombia with the ELN mean for Venezuela?
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(CNN Spanish) --
In the midst of the peace talks between the government of President Gustavo Petro and the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN), whose first cycle ended last Monday in Caracas, a front of that armed group that operates in the department of Chocó announced through a statement that starting this Thursday an armed strike will begin in that region of the west of the country.
The "Omar Gómez Western War Front" of the ELN maintains in a communication sent to local media in the department of Chocó that right-wing paramilitary groups are carrying out violent actions in the San Juan River area and that is why they have made this decision.
"For these reasons we are forced to decree an indefinite armed strike in the San Juan, Sipí, Cajón and Calima rivers, in order to make visible what is happening in the region. The strike begins on December 15, 2022, from 6 in the afternoon", the guerrillas maintain in the communiqué.
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The Peace Commissioner, Danilo Rueda, was surprised by this situation that occurs three days after it was agreed in Caracas to carry out humanitarian relief, especially in that region, as part of the first agreements at the negotiating table.
"And we have acted under the mechanisms that we have for dialogue with the ELN so that they give us an answer in this regard. Because the ELN must act in coherence. If we are in a peaceful scenario, then it should consider and assess that this type of communication is nothing it benefits the credibility that they can gain before public opinion," Commissioner Rueda told local media this Wednesday.
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The peace negotiations with the ELN are part of the so-called total peace policy announced by the government of Gustavo Petro on August 7 when he took office as president of Colombia for a period of four years.
Gustavo Petro