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Five days after the resumption of peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the last active guerrilla in the country, the ELN, the National Liberation Army, significant progress has been made on three points. From now on, the idea is to speed up. And to do this, in addition to the countries that are already playing a guarantor role in these discussions, in this case Cuba, Venezuela, Norway, Mexico, Brazil and Chile, other countries are invited, in particular the United States which had already participated to the negotiation process with the FARC before obtaining a peace agreement.
After five days of discussions in Venezuela, the two sides, the Colombian government and the ELN, have reached an agreement on three points which should now make it possible to speed up this process, even if no ceasefire has been agreed. A humanitarian aid mechanism will be set up with the support of the UN and the Church. A joint communication group will be created to keep Colombians and the international community informed transparently, objectively and clearly on the progress of the discussions.
►Read also: Colombia: resumption of negotiations with ELN guerrillas in Venezuela
Washington wants to know what the Colombian government’s intentions are
Finally, a call was made to several countries to participate directly or indirectly in the peace process. Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain have been invited, while an invitation has also been sent to the United States to nominate a special envoy to this dialogue table. This had already happened during the process with the FARC that led to a peace deal in 2016.
The United States, for the moment, say they are considering such an eventuality, but above all they want to know the intentions of the Colombian government, knowing that at present the ELN is still designated by Washington for this process as a terrorist organization.
♦ This proposal is welcome according to Jaime Zuluaga Nieto, professor emeritus of the University of Colombia. According to this member of the Civilian Commission for the Facilitation of the Peace Process with the ELN, the United States has already demonstrated in the past that it can help advance this type of process.
« We have already had very valuable experience with US participation, when a special delegate was appointed by the president for the negotiations between the national government and the FARC in the process leading to the end of the war with the FARC guerrillas. President Obama had appointed Bernard Aronson who assisted and accompanied the negotiation process. Thanks to his presence, we had made significant progress on the fourth point of the final agreement on the issue of illicit drugs and crops in our country. That is why a special delegate of the United States in these discussions can play a fundamental role when it comes to addressing aspects that have to do with the security policies of the United States, in this case its policy of combating drug trafficking. This delegate will then be the voice of the US government and will certainly help move forward on specific points of a possible deal. »
