The Colombian government and the Central General Staff (EMC), the largest FARC dissident group, decided to extend the bilateral ceasefire for six months, which began on October 16 and would end this Monday (15).
In a decree signed by Defense Minister Iván Velásquez, the government ordered “to extend the temporary bilateral and national ceasefire with territorial impact” and, therefore, maintain the order to suspend offensive military operations and police operations against this armed group.
The government and the Central General Staff are currently in the third round of negotiations, which takes place in Bogotá and ends next Thursday (18), where the extension of the ceasefire was the central issue.
The current ceasefire began on October 16 and was due to expire today, during which time hostilities were considerably reduced, in addition to the fact that the largest dissent from the disbanded guerrilla group announced on December 12 that it would abandon kidnappings for economic purposes.
Once the extension of the ceasefire has been agreed, there are also other issues on the table, such as commitments to respect the civilian population, not just in relation to kidnapping or deprivation of liberty, and other issues such as “comprehensive transformations in the face of economic illicit activities”, as detailed this week by the government's chief negotiator, Camilo González Posso.
There is also the intention to address the construction of an “environmental agenda with decisions that must be applied immediately in the Amazon region, in matters of non-deforestation, respect for organizations and their autonomy, and response to communities in this area”, said González.
These negotiations were also discussed in other meetings between the government and the EMC, which had ups and downs and an interruption of agreements after, in November, they accused each other of not fulfilling what had been agreed for military operations in an area in the southwest of the country.
On November 5, the EMC decided to suspend the talks, which had started just 21 days earlier and included a bilateral ceasefire, due to the State's total failure to comply with its commitments, as they claimed that the military forces had not left a area in the department of Cauca (southwest) from which they had agreed to leave.
The announcement was made after the retention of almost 200 soldiers who had arrived in El Plateado (Cauca) to guarantee the security of the elections for mayor and governor on October 29.
Days later, under pressure from the EMC, the community forced the military to leave the area, while the guerrillas also demanded that they leave their areas of influence, such as Cañón del Micay. This episode, however, was left behind and conversations continue privately.
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