Chile will remain the guarantor country of the peace talks that Colombia aspires to resume with the guerrilla National Liberation Army, which does not yet have a new defined host country, Chilean President Gabriel Boric reported Monday in a joint statement with his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro. .
Boric told the press that he has raised with Petro his “willingness to collaborate” in whatever the new government needs in the terms in which “he deems to be most useful.”
Days ago, the Chilean president had offered his country as the venue for the negotiations that were held in Cuba from 2018 and until their suspension in 2019.
Petro, who was sworn in as president the day before, assured that the change of the geographical location in which an eventual dialogue will take place also depends on the “conditions” manifested by the guerrillas, whose leaders remain in Cuba.
The breakdown of peace negotiations with the ELN in 2019 by decision of former President Iván Duque (2018-2022) led to diplomatic tension between the two countries. Duque demanded that the guerrillas stop their terrorist acts and free the hostages, and in turn asked Cuba to extradite the guerrilla leaders so that they could appear before Colombian justice.
Cuba did not respond to the request, assuring that it had to comply with the protocols signed between the Colombian State and the guarantor countries, which contemplated that in the event of a breach, the guerrilla command would have a few days to return to their camps.
Petro assured that the tension led to an “international political problem” and that now it will be Cuba that defines whether or not it remains as the host country.
The ELN was founded in 1964 based on Marxist ideas and has tried on several occasions to sign peace without success.
The last negotiation that is being sought to resume began in 2017 with the then Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018). It was in Quito, where the initial cycles of negotiations were carried out in which bilateral and temporary ceasefires were achieved under the verification of the United Nations. In May 2018, Cuba became the new venue for the dialogue after Ecuador declined to continue as host.