Petro suspends arrest warrants for ELN negotiators

First modification: 08/21/2022 – 02:49

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced this Saturday the suspension of the arrest and extradition orders against the negotiators of the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN). Part of the leadership and the guerrilla negotiators are in Cuba to start the peace talks, which had been previously suspended in 2018.

In what he called a “comprehensive security council,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced measures to initiate a possible peace dialogue with the ELN guerrillas. The announcement was made in the north of the country, in a meeting with representatives of different state institutions and the Military Forces.

“I want to announce that by decree, signed yesterday, I have authorized the restoration of the protocols, allowing negotiators again, allowing them to reconnect with their organization, suspending arrest warrants for those negotiators, suspending extradition orders for those negotiators to begin a dialogue with the ELN,” said the head of state.

Negotiations with the guerrilla group had begun in 2017 in Quito, Ecuador, during the mandate of Juan Manuel Santos. In 2018, they were transferred to Havana, where the main leaders of the guerrilla group are still present, although the government of Iván Duque suspended the talks after he came to power that same year.

Petro said that with this new strategy he seeks to “try to build the path, hopefully quickly and expeditiously, where this organization ceases to be an insurgent guerrilla in Colombia.” During his speech, he also called for the “vigilance” of the security forces and the authorities.

Similarly, he called on the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary group to join the peace talks. “I invite those who make up the so-called Self-Defense Forces to start a similar path and jointly deliver this region to peace and the life of its own members,” she pointed out.

A way to agree on dialogue

This new announcement comes after the Petro Administration had a rapprochement with ELN representatives in Havana, after assuming power just two weeks ago.

According to the Colombian Foreign Ministry, on August 11, the Colombian High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, and Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva traveled to Cuba to start the first talks.

“We emphasize that Cuba was the cradle of the final peace agreement of 2016 between the Colombian State and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC-EP, which has been considered an example for the entire world,” reads a statement issued by the Colombian Foreign Minister on August 11.

For his part, his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodríguez, who is leading the meeting in his country, ratified Cuba’s “invariable commitment” “to peace in Colombia” and its “will” to continue contributing to the “achievement of peace.”

The top commander of the ELN, Eliécer Herlinto Chamorro, alias “Antonio García”, told the local media outlet CM&, that the peace negotiations must be resumed at the point where they were stalled in 2018.

“The one who broke it (the peace negotiation) was the Government of Duque, now the new Government and the Colombian State must be safe from said breach. It is the basics. Therefore, (it must be the) starting point to restart talks,” said the guerrilla chief.

Last Wednesday, the ELN released five soldiers and a police officer who had been kidnapped in the south of the country, in the department of Cauca, one of the most affected by the Colombian Armed Conflict.

This action was seen by the Petro government as a gesture of “good will” on the part of the guerrillas to resume the peace talks.

With EFE and local media