The ‘Omar Gómez’ front of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group announced Thursday the start of an indefinite armed strike in several municipalities of the Chocó department in western Colombia, a few days after the end of the first round of talks with the government.
The Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, rejected this new maneuver by the guerrilla, which he reproached for «launching postulates and narratives» without presenting «concrete facts» in search of peace, after both parties met this week in Caracas, Venezuela.
«It is not possible to be advancing negotiation processes, dialogues when we do not express or send an unequivocal message to the Colombian people through concrete facts of peace», Camargo emphasized.
«This is not a message of peace, this is not an announcement of reconciliation. The call is to tell any illegal armed group, and in particular the ELN, that Colombians require genuine gestures of peace,» he insisted.
Camargo said that they have information that the inhabitants of the affected municipalities have confined themselves of their own free will for fear of threats and guerrilla actions, reports Blu Radio.
«Effectively, in the face of the threats and the risk they are experiencing and above all in the face of intimidation, the communities have confined themselves,» confirmed Camargo, who described the situation as «very worrying».
The first round of negotiations between the guerrillas and the Colombian government concluded on Monday, with the announcement, among other things, that twenty people – including civilians and law enforcement officers – who had been held captive by the ELN have been released as part of the «clear commitment to peace».
At the same time, the Government announced that eight guerrillas would be released for «humanitarian reasons». Regarding the possibility of a cease-fire by the ELN over the Christmas period, its delegation said that although it would be desirable, it considers it difficult for it to happen since on previous occasions it has only served to make the security forces intensify their operations.
On the other hand, a bilateral agreement for the cessation of hostilities has not been one of the points discussed during this first round of negotiations, as revealed by the head of the ELN delegation, Israel Ramirez, alias ‘Pablo Beltran’, but rather the meeting was focused on humanitarian issues.
The second meeting is scheduled to take place next year on Mexican soil, one of the guarantor countries of the agreement along with Venezuela and Norway.
