The National Liberation Army (ELN) guerillas rejected the Colombian president’s claims that they signed a cease-fire settlement with the federal government.
President Gustavo Petro had introduced on the weekend a six-month cease-fire with the 5 largest armed teams within the nation, together with the ELN, which has held peace talks with the federal government.
“The ELN Dialogue Delegation has not discussed any bilateral ceasefire with the Gustavo Petro government. Therefore no such agreement exists,” the guerrillas mentioned in a press release.
President Petro, Colombia’s first-ever leftist president, who has mentioned he desires “total peace” within the nation, introduced the truce on Twitter on New Year’s Eve.
“We have agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with the ELN, the Second Marquetalia, the Central General Staff, the AGC, and the Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2023,” Petro tweeted.
The cease-fire was declared “extendable depending on progress in the negotiations.”
Despite the peace pact that noticed FARC guerrillas disarm in 2017, armed teams stay locked in lethal disputes over drug trafficking revenues and different unlawful companies, in response to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz), an impartial assume tank.
Colombia is the world’s largest cocaine producer
The authorities, in a press release Sunday, mentioned the cease-fire could be monitored by the United Nations, Colombia’s human rights ombudsman and the Catholic Church.
