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First modification:
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, summoned peace negotiators with the ELN on March 29 to examine the attack by that guerrilla that left nine soldiers dead and another nine wounded in a border area with Venezuela.
With our correspondent in Colombia Paula Carrillo and the AFP.
The soldiers were in a border area with Venezuela guarding the Caño Limón Coveñas oil pipeline, the most important in the country and a recurring target of the National Liberation Army (ELN), when they were attacked by the rebels, according to the official version.
Most of the soldiers who died were young people who were doing compulsory military service and were around 20 years of age. According to the press, four belonged to the Wayúu indigenous people.
“I have summoned the government delegation to the ELN table, guarantor and accompanying countries for consultation. A peace process must be serious and responsible with Colombian society,” the president said on Twitter.
I have summoned the government delegation to the ELN table, guarantor and accompanying countries for consultation. A peace process must be serious and responsible with Colombian society.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) March 29, 2023
Until where?
How far will Petro’s desire for peace persist? This is the question that remains after the president’s decision to convene consultations with the different peace actors.
At the meeting, which will take place next Monday, the government will define whether to change its position or continue at the table, because this Wednesday’s attack, attributed to the ELN, represents a crossroads.
Iván Velásquez, the Minister of Defense, spoke of a “feeling of repudiation for this act, which contributes very little to peace, which seems more like a contradiction with those purposes of peace.”
“Sabotage the process”
“It sabotages the process, it gives wrong signals, when what is needed is to de-escalate, protect the process, respect the civilian population, gradually decreasing the intensity of combat, what they are doing is escalating and declaring the Petro government itself a military objective” Camilo González Posso, an Indepaz analyst, estimated.
The fact adds to other differences reflected before the public opinion. In January, Petro publicly announced a bilateral ceasefire, while the guerrillas denied it.
The third round of peace talks was scheduled to start in Cuba in the coming days.
