The commander of the guerrilla organization Colombiahe National Liberation Army (ELN)Eliécer Chamorro, alias Antonio Garcia, denied the rumors that the group is carrying out kidnappings, although he described “prisoners and detainees” those who deprive them of their freedom. The statements came a day after the Government of Colombia demanded the release of all hostages.
“He ELN does not carry out kidnappings. There are different actions of deprivation of liberty, but they are different: prisoners, hostages, detained, kidnapped and missing. The ELN only has prisoners and retained”the organization wrote on the social network X (ex Twitter).
These statements “came when the respective delegations of the Government of Colombia and the guerrilla are celebrating for days the qFifth round of talks in the Mexico Cityafter the crisis that occurred between both parties due to the kidnapping of the footballer Luis Diaz by the ELN”, as reported by the news agency Europa Press.
For his part, the new high commissioner for Peace of Colombia, Otty Patinodemanded that the armed group reveal how many people you have kidnapped and free them all, too commit to “not carry out these types of actions again while peace is being negotiated,” he assured.
Anger in the ELN over alleged rumors about non-compliance with the ceasefire
In the last hours, Antonio Garcia He also criticized those who maintain that the guerrilla is not complying with their share of the ceasefire. He directly accused the military of being responsible.
“The real crisis of the table and the peace process It’s for other reasons and realities, among which are the systematic violations of the ceasefire by the State Armed Forces and the almost null role of the monitoring mechanism and check”, expressed the guerrilla leader.
In that sense, he said that he was confident that this and other disagreements with the President’s Government Gustavo Petro be evaluated in this latest cycle of negotiations in the Mexico City. “That is the feeling of the command and all the ELN structures,” he said.
Resuming peace talks, a priority of the Colombian government
The Government and the guerrilla they resumed in November 2022 the talks as part of the total peace plan announced by Petro. At first some humanitarian relief was achieved in the regions more beaten by the armed conflict.
Since the agreement for a bilateral ceasefire was announced, it was made explicit that it would have three phases: the first since June 9 and which ended on July 6, the time in which the process preparationthe protocols were completed, pedagogy was carried out in the territories and The agreement with the ELN structures was announced. For this there was joint work between the United Nations and the Catholic Church.
The second phase was in effect from July 6 and ended on August 3, and consisted of the conflict de-escalation and in stopping the actions offensive on the part of the Military forces and of the warfare.
The third stage began on August 3 and is expected to last 180 days extendable -until January 29, 2024-, depending on the periodic evaluations of the mechanism and that guarantee the “compliance of the committed parties.”
Source: Ambito