Colombian President Gustavo Petro is adding new names to the government delegation that next week is expected to start talks in Venezuela with the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, the latest to accept being former Vice Minister of Agriculture José Félix Lafaurie.
«If the President asks me to collaborate in this direction, I will do so with the commitment that obliges me», confirmed Lafaurie, now leader of the Colombian Federation of Cattle Breeders (Fedegan), as reported by RCN.
«I will also do it for a sector like ours, which has been the most violated by violent actors in all Colombian regions. I hope that the desire for total peace that Colombians have can be achieved», said Lafaurie.
Petro’s proposal is especially relevant because Lafaurie is one of his main critics. The former vice-minister of Agriculture is the husband of ‘uribista’ senator María Fernanda Cabal, one of the visible heads of the opposition in the upper house of the Colombian Congress.
Petro’s announcement took place during the last Fedegan meeting in Barranquilla, where the head of Casa Nariño insisted on the need to demobilize the «armed youth that is killing each other in Colombia».
Among Lafaurie’s colleagues is Senator Iván Cepeda, who is «optimistic» about the reactivation of the talks thanks to the good will of both the Government and the ELN to reach agreements.
«In a matter of very few months we have been able to reach the stage of a negotiating table and we go with full awareness of how difficult the talks are, but also with all the enthusiasm during this process,» Cepeda said during the Fedegan meeting.
As confirmed on Thursday, the government delegation will be headed by Otty Patiño, political scientist and former guerrilla of the April 19 Movement (M-19). While waiting for more names to be confirmed, the Colombian press anticipates that there will be seven government chairs at the table, some of which could be occupied by Senator María José Pizarro, the Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, or the former congressman for the Polo Democrático, Jesús Alberto Castilla.
Achieving peace with the armed groups has been a major issue for Petro since he began his presidential run shortly before mid-year. With his arrival at Casa Nariño, both the Government and the ELN have shown their willingness to reach an agreement and solve the impasse in which the talks with the previous executive of Iván Duque had been trapped.
