ELN releases soldiers as a gesture before peace talks in Cuba

The Colombian guerrilla National Liberation Army (ELN) announced the release of six soldiers it was holding as a gesture to achieve a rapprochement with the new president Gustavo Petro.

Representatives of Petro and the ELN met at the end of last week in Cuba to explore the possibility of resuming the peace talks interrupted by former president Iván Duque in 2019 after the guerrillas attacked a police academy.

“We salute the will… to recognize the previous commitments that the Colombian State has made with the ELN, to respect the agreed protocols, to recognize our dialogue delegation, to guarantee the political and legal measures that allow the resumption of the talks’ ‘, the ELN said in a statement released on Thursday.

The six released are soldiers, the text indicated, accompanied by images of the men and several guerrillas in uniform with handkerchiefs on their faces and weapons.

In Cuba, the representatives of the Colombian government recognized the legitimacy of their rebel counterpart as a first step to resume the talks in order to achieve the disarmament of the organization created in the 1960s under the influence of Marxism.

The situation constitutes a radical turn in relation to Duque’s policy, which after the rupture demanded that Cuba hand over the rebel leaders and requested their international capture. The island refused, arguing that the peace protocols had to be respected, which generated diplomatic tension involving the United States, an ally of the then Colombian ruler.

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