ELN sign at the National University in Bogota (Image: Parker Crooks)
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro called for the resumption of talks with the ELN guerrilla group.
In a post on social media platform X, Petro responded to ELN’s second in command and chief negotiator, Pablo Beltran.
The president said that there is no need for more destruction and death before starting a peace process, referring to the Gaza genocide.
I have initiated contacts with the Clan del Golfo through the mediation of the Qatari government. It is time to restart contacts with the ELN. I am responding to Mr. Pablo Beltran. Try peace in Colombia. You don’t need to destroy an entire city and kill 70,000 people to make a humanitarian exchange.
Gustavo Petro
The president responded to an interview with Beltran, who said that the guerrillas were open to resuming peace talks.
We believe that it is possible to reach agreements, that a political solution is possible, and for us it is strategic that the entire society participates in this peacebuilding process. This is the political solution.
Pablo Beltran
ELN open to resuming peace talks with Colombia’s government
The ELN’s chief negotiator said in the interview that the solution to the armed conflict lies in the peace talks agenda agreed with former President Juan Manuel Santos and Petro.
“Let the current government, or the next one, respect the two agreements we signed with Santos in 2016 and with Petro in 2023,” Beltran said.
The president suspended talks in January after a brutal ELN offensive that left dozens of people dead in the Catatumbo region on the Venezuelan border.
The government’s “Total Peace” policy seeks to end violence that began after the surge of guerrilla groups like the ELN and the FARC in the mid-1960s.
These insurgencies and a dirty war against the left have left more than 600,000 people dead, according to the Truth Commission.
In an attempt to end the violence, Petro has repeatedly insisted on negotiating with a myriad of armed groups and organized crime structures.
