CNN
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Government of Colombia and National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group on Tuesday announced the resumption of peace talks, after a three-year hiatus.
The announcement was made at a joint press conference of the top ELN leadership and a group of negotiators representing the Colombian government in Caracas, Venezuela.
Venezuela is one of the guarantors in the negotiations, which were started more than six years ago but stopped in 2019 by former Colombian president Ivan Duque.
His successor, Gustavo Petrohas made restarting peace talks a priority in his government since coming to power in August.
According to a statement by spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the announcement and thanked Venezuela, along with Cuba and Norway, for facilitating this process.
“(Guterres) urges both sides to fully seize this opportunity to end a deadly conflict that has dragged on for decades, and their resolution is crucial to widen the scope of domestic peace. . He noted positively the parties’ agreement to build their negotiations on the progress made in previous negotiations, as well as their importance to civil society participation. in peace-building,” said Dujarric.
“The Secretary-General hopes that Colombians can prove once again that even the most difficult conflicts can be resolved through dialogue,” he added.
Last month, Colombia and Venezuela re-established diplomatic relations after more than two years, in part aimed at resuming talks with the guerrillas who control much of the territory across the Colombia-Venezuela border.
The ELN is one of the largest guerrilla forces still active in the region. Born as a Marxist insurgency in the 1960s, the group financed its activities through kidnapping, extortion, and involvement in the drug trade.
In recent years, ELN has expanded its operations in southern Venezuela, where it controls illegal mining operations.
