Gustavo Petro and Antonio García.Bloomberg / AFP
The long-awaited ceasefire with the ELN remains on hold. The peace delegations of the Government and the last guerrilla in arms negotiating in Havana have asked this Thursday in extremis one more day to President Gustavo Petro and the commander of the National Liberation Army, Antonio Garcia, for the closure of the third cycle of dialogues, with the purpose of "finalizing details of the texts" and their respective protocols.
The closing of the third cycle of dialogues was originally scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Havana, and the Presidency had announced the presence of Petro for the first time at the dialogue table.
"The document and protocols are simply being adjusted, they have asked us for a deadline while that adjustment is made, but what we do have very clear is that we are moving forward," Senator María José Pizarro told the press that was preparing to accompany the president on his trip to Cuba. "The most possible thing is that it will be tomorrow," added Pizarro, who is also part of the government delegation.
"This is the first time that the ELN is preparing for a six-month bilateral ceasefire. Never before has this been achieved in a peace process with this guerrilla. We have made significant progress," Peace Commissioner Danilo Rueda had said yesterday in an interview with El País. The government urges that the peace table, installed by this cycle in Cuba, deliver results and the president has become impatient to agree on a truce that relieves the communities that have suffered the most from the rigors of war.
News in development...
Subscribe here to the newsletter of EL PAÍS about Colombia and receive all the informative keys of the current situation of the country.