The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last recognized rebel group in the country, on Friday said they would invite the US to join their peace process.
The talks are an initiative by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who in August became the country’s first-ever leftist leader and has vowed a less bellicose approach to ending violence wrought by armed groups, including leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers.
The parties resumed formal talks in Venezuela on Monday for the first time since 2019.
Photo: Bloomberg
They agreed to reach out to the US via diplomatic channels “to find out its willingness to participate in the process” and send a special envoy, according to a statement from Norway, one of the guarantors of the talks.
The statement said the talks had taken place in an environment of “trust and optimism.”
The US Department of State did not confirm any possible US involvement.
Photo: REUTERS
“At this point we continue to engage the Petro administration to better understand plans to seek a total peace with the ELN, FARC dissidents, and other criminal organizations,” a state department spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the remaining armed members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel group.
“The ELN remains a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization under US law,” the department added.
The parties also agreed to invite Brazil, Chile and Mexico to join Norway, Cuba and Venezuela as guarantors of the process.
Mexico agreed to take part in the talks during a meeting between Petro and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday, a government statement said.
The two leaders discussed their “conviction to work together for peace in the region,” it said.
Germany, Switzerland and Spain would also be invited as “accompanying countries,” the Norwegian statement said.
About 30 delegates are attending the talks, which are expected to last three weeks.
Colombia has experienced more than half a century of armed conflict between the government and left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers.
The ELN began as a leftist ideological movement in 1964 before turning to crime, focusing on kidnapping, extortion of the oil industry and drug trafficking in Colombia and neighboring Venezuela.
It has about 2,500 members, 700 more than it did when negotiations were last broken off. It is primarily active in the Pacific region and along the 2,200km border with Venezuela.
Dialogue with the group started in 2016 under then-Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, who signed a peace treaty with FARC, which subsequently abandoned its weapons and created a political party.
However, talks with the ELN were called off in 2019 by then-Colombian president Ivan Duque following a car bomb attack on a police academy in Bogota that left 22 people dead.
Over a few hours under gray skies, dozens of combat planes and helicopters roar on and off the flight deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, in a demonstration of US military power in some of the world’s most hotly contested waters. MH-60 Seahawk helicopters and F/A-18 Hornet jets bearing pilot call signs such as “Fozzie Bear,” “Pig Sweat” and “Bongoo” emit deafening screams as they land in the drizzle on the Nimitz, which is leading a carrier strike group that entered the South China Sea two weeks ago. US Rear Admiral Christopher Sweeney, who is commanding the group, said the tour
RISING RISK: With no communication between nations flying jets closely over the South China Sea, one mistake by a pilot could quickly escalate a situation, an expert said The China Coast Guard (CCG) maintained near-daily patrols at key features across the disputed South China Sea last year, ramping up its presence as tensions over the waterway with Southeast Asian neighbors remain high, new tracking data shows. Patrols in the waters surrounding the Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, an area known for its oil and gas reserves and the site of repeated standoffs between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels, more than doubled to 310 days last year, the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said. The number of days Chinese ships patrolled near Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha
A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized. The court in the northern province of Chiang Rai found that Mongkhon Thirakot contravened the lese majeste law in 14 of 27 posts for which he was arrested in August last year. The law covers the king, queen and heirs, and any regent. The lese majeste law carries a prison term of three to 15 years per incident for
‘DISTURBING’: Nearly half of 16 to 21-year-olds assumed that girls either ‘expect’ or ‘enjoy’ sex which involves physical aggression, such as airway restriction One in 10 children have watched pornography by the time they are nine years old, according to “disturbing” new research by the children’s commissioner for England. The report found that one-quarter of pupils in their final year of primary school had already been exposed. It also showed much of the material being consumed by children and young people featured violence. Four out of five (79 percent) of those surveyed had seen pornography involving violence by the age of 18, while one in three young people have actively sought out depictions of sexual violence such as physical aggression, coercion and degradation. The report, by
RSS