Colombia, ELN rebels start peace talks, hoping to end six decades of war
Member of Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) delegation
Negotiators from theColombian government andleftistguerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN) beganpeacetalkson Monday, the first major step in President Gustavo Petro's efforts to end nearly 60 years of war.
Petro, a former member of the M-19 insurgency who took office in August, has promised to bring "totalpeace" toColombiaby negotiating withrebelsand crime gangs involved in drug trafficking and illegal mining.
"We cannot see each other as enemies, the labor we have is of reconciliation," saidELNnegotiator Pablo Beltran. "We hope not to fail these expectations for change."
Thetalks- which began in Venezuelan capital Caracas - will rotate among guarantor countries Venezuela, Cuba and Norway, according to theColombian government.
"We are committed totalkswith an organization that also wantspeace," said head government negotiator Otty Patino. "We are going to reach safe port...a realpeace."
The delegations had their first meeting on Monday,Colombia's highpeacecommissioner Danilo Rueda said.
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Previous attempts at negotiations with theELN, which has some 2,400 combatants and was founded in 1964 by radical Catholic priests, have not advanced partly because of dissent within its ranks.
Leaders have said the group is united, but it is unclear how much sway negotiators hold over active units. Much of theELN's negotiating team is older than many of its members.
The negotiations do not mean a suspension of military operations against therebels,Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez said earlier on Monday.
Talksbetween theELNand the government of Juan Manuel Santos began in 2017 in Ecuador, later moving to Cuba, but were called off in 2019 by Santos' successor, Ivan Duque, because theELNrefused to halt hostilities and killed 22 police cadets in a bombing.
Petro has also promised to fully implement a 2016peacedeal with the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces ofColombia(FARC)rebels. More than 450,000 people have been killed inColombia's six decades of internal conflict.
