The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has acknowledged that «beforehand» they do not know the will for peace of the armed groups with which they have made a pact and has warned that in case they take advantage of the negotiations to accumulate economic benefits through illegal businesses, the State will act against them.
«If within these groups there is a will for peace, which we do not know, we do not know beforehand, there may be a premeditated calculation to use peace as a mechanism to accumulate business,» he acknowledged.
«That may be on the table, so there will not be a peace through dialogue, but rather State action against that group», warned the Colombian president during his visit to Yarumal, in Antioquia, as reported by ‘El Espectador’.
Petro explained that the ‘total peace’ project not only consists of a bilateral ceasefire, but also a cessation of hostilities to the civilian population, a condition that these groups must comply with if they do not want to be targeted by the forces of law and order.
«The ceasefire concept has to integrate other elements that, I believe, are needed for the process to be effective,» such as curbing drug trafficking, extortion, illegal mining, or kidnapping. If they do not accept, «the public forces must and must act», he concluded.
«A group that is ‘rattling’, to use that word, is a group that has to be persecuted, because who said that we accept rattling? That is not in the possibility of peace,» the Colombian president stressed.
In another order of things, Petro also made reference to the criticisms coming from the high command of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla, which considers that the Colombian Government is putting them «in the same bag» as the rest of the armed groups with which negotiations are being held.
«The methods of negotiation may vary», said Petro, explaining that there are armed groups, as is the case of the ELN, with whom the dialogue has a more political character. «They are interested in the country’s reforms and they will raise it. That negotiation will be with the Government», he clarified.
In this sense, he added that with the rest of the armed organizations, those based on drug trafficking, for example, the negotiation cannot be with the Government, since the axis of the discussion is not political. «It is the judiciary that has to negotiate with these types of groups,» he concluded.
Petro’s clarifications take place on the eve of the second round of talks with the ELN on February 13 in Mexico City, after the one that took place in Caracas, Venezuela, and with which it is now expected to seal a bilateral ceasefire agreement between both actors.
At the same time, two days later, the Government will submit to Congress a bill to submit to justice these non-political armed groups, such as the Clan del Golfo and other paramilitary groups, as an alternative to «pure extermination» and to a «peaceful solution» if there is will.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
