The ELN calls its delegation for consultations and assures that the process is entering a crisis

The ELN is capable of combusting at any time and without warning.

The guerrilla and the Government of Colombia had agreed in recent weeks to extend the ceasefire for another 180 days and to create a fund with contributions from different international institutions and organizations to be able to apply the peace agreements.

The negotiation seemed to enter a valley of serenity, there was nothing in sight that could disturb it.

However, it was nothing more than a mirage.

The guerrilla released a statement this Tuesday night in which it announced that it has called its delegation for consultations, which is holding talks with President Gustavo Petro's envoys to ensure that the armed group demobilizes, lays down its weapons and becomes a political party.

In addition, he announces that the process is in “open crisis.”

What is the reason this time?

The parties agreed to create a mechanism for society to participate in the process, which basically consists of people being able to include their concerns and desires to build a better country.

The ELN believes that it represents a part of the population that does not consider that there is a true democracy established in the country.

Unlike the FARC, they do not aspire to take power, but rather to transform it through an armed political struggle.

The Government, with these dialogues, grants them the possibility of making this public contribution, which many consider sterile.

When the ELN was created, more than half a century ago, the left did not have access to power, but that has changed and there is a legitimate way through which progressivism can occupy the institutions.

All you have to do is look at Petro, a former militant of the M-19, a guerrilla that made peace with the Government in the 90s.

#ATTENTION

Statement from the ELN Central Command.

"the dialogues between the ELN and the National Government would enter a freezing phase while the Government prepares to comply with what was agreed."https://t.co/KQHgAuDH6m pic.twitter.com/RrCisrp9Ks

— ELN Delegation (@DelegacionEln) February 21, 2024

Those dialogues to which the ELN places so much value have begun to take place in the regions.

Important official negotiators such as Iván Cepeda or María José Pizarro have been in the territories promoting them.

However, the guerrilla has been bothered that the Government had started some in Nariño, to which other armed groups such as the Central General Staff, EMC, and the Second Marquetalia have been invited.

They have felt that they have done it behind their backs and without consulting them.

In that department bordering Ecuador there is a strong presence of guerrillas, drug traffickers and coca crops.

It seems like the ideal place to start a transformation process.

Petro's negotiators do not consider that they have isolated the ELN from these talks, but they must have touched some nerve that once again calls peace in Colombia into question.

The demobilization of the ELN is the fundamental part of Petro's total peace project, which aims to achieve a drastic reduction in homicides and conflicts, in which the country has been involved for decades, with negotiation and submission to justice of the groups taking up arms.

This is the first major crisis faced by Vera Grabe, the 72-year-old anthropologist whom Petro has put in charge of the negotiations.

She replaced Otty Patiño, who in turn now holds a higher position, that of Peace Commissioner, after the previous one, Danilo Rueda, fell from grace.

Rueda had the confidence of the president, but the continuous back-and-forth with the different armed groups called his work into question.

The truth is that it is difficult for him to judge him harshly because of the major challenge that he faced, because of the extreme difficulty involved in negotiating any issue with these guerrillas and narco-paramilitary armies.

Dialogue with the ELN, everyone who has done it recognizes, is a true exercise in patience.

The guerrilla has been holed up between the jungle and some Colombian regions for 60 years and has a vision anchored in the Cold War.

His conception of the world is far from that of anyone living in the modern era.

That Benedictine patience is presupposed by Grabe, the first woman to lead peace talks in Colombia.

She was also a member of the M-19 and was detained and tortured.

Petro put it there to complete a process that is moving too slowly, to the president's despair.

Grabe will have to overcome this new crisis that no one counted on and surely the next ones to come.

The ELN is unpredictable.

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