The Colombian government has announced that peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas will formally begin next Monday, November 21, according to the newspaper ‘El Colombiano’.
«This first stage will take place in Venezuela. Next Friday the Government will announce its delegates for the negotiation, on Saturday it will travel to the neighboring country and they will officially sit down on Monday», said sources close to the newspaper.
For his part, the High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, has publicly pointed to the restart of the negotiations, indicating that the date for the meetings is approaching, so that the list of members of the peace delegation will be published this weekend.
«With the accompaniment of the guarantor countries, we comply with the reactivation of the protocols agreed between the State and the National Liberation Army (ELN) to resume the peace dialogues. Today we are on the verge of reactivating the negotiating table,» he announced in a message posted on the social network Twitter.
«The list of members of the peace delegation of the government of President (Gustavo) Petro for the dialogue table with the ELN will be announced this weekend. Unofficial versions with names of delegates that have circulated are not truthful,» he warned.
In this sense, he pointed out that the members work «under confidentiality». «We understand the desire to inform, however, discretion during this preparation phase is necessary for the peace process with the ELN guerrillas to be successful,» explained the High Commissioner for Peace.
He also indicated that the Executive has the necessary legal framework for dialogue with armed groups. «We accompany in Congress the discussion of the reform of Law 418, the legal framework that will allow us to dialogue with the armed groups that have heeded the government’s call. The Constitution is the tool to seek peace with social and environmental justice», explained Rueda.
He explained that the government team has made progress in institutional articulation and has created «strategies to root the culture of peace in the territories, hand in hand with the victims and the communities».
