The Colombian Government has revealed this Tuesday the ceasefire decrees signed with armed groups, showing that the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN) is included, after the organization denied these conclusions on the negotiations with the political representatives of the Latin American country.
Colombian authorities have made public the five-page decree which legally upholds the bilateral ceasefire announced by Colombian President Gustavo Petro on December 31.
This document, signed by the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, indicates that «according to the information provided by the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, the communities existing in the territory where the ELN is present have made private and public calls to the national government to decree a ceasefire, requests which have been supported by the church and sectors of the international community».
Thus, the decree establishes a «bilateral and temporary ceasefire of national character, between the national government and the National Liberation Army» starting at 00.00 on January 1, 2023 until June 30, and which could be extended «upon recommendation».
In addition, it orders the suspension of military operations and police operations against ELN members participating in the peace process. It also establishes a monitoring mechanism integrated by the different parties and social organizations, as well as the Catholic Church and a UN team.
The ELN stated hours before that the delegation negotiating with the Colombian government «has not discussed» any proposal for a bilateral ceasefire and, therefore, «there is still no agreement on this matter».
«On several occasions we have pointed out that the ELN only complies with what is discussed and agreed at the dialogue table where we participate. A unilateral government decree cannot be accepted as an agreement,» the guerrillas explained in a communiqué signed on January 1 and released on Tuesday.
«We understand the Government’s decree as a proposal to be examined in the next cycle», said the ELN, which thus breaks with the December 31 announcement by President Petro that his Government had reached a bilateral ceasefire with this guerrilla group as well as with four other armed groups.
After the announcement was made public, the Colombian president called an extraordinary summit with the ministers of the Interior, Alfonso Prada; and of Defense, Iván Velázquez; and the High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda. The purpose of the meeting is to analyze the new scenario after this ELN announcement and the next actions of the Government, among which it is not ruled out to repeal the bilateral ceasefire decree and to resume military operations.
The restart of the stalled negotiations with the ELN was one of Petro’s first announcements with international impact, after these had been interrupted by the government of former president Iván Duque in response to an attack by the guerrilla in January 2019 in a police academy that left a score of people dead.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
