Cuba described the five weeks since the beginning of the third cycle of negotiations between the Colombian government and the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), which ends this Thursday in Havana, as “hard work.”
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“Five weeks of hard work by the parties that we hopefully accompany, there is a firm path towards peace”pointed out on Twitter the director general of Latin America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eugenio Martinez.
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The Cuban cycle of peace talks began the first week of May and will conclude this Thursday with a closing ceremony to which Colombian President Gustavo Petro is expected to attend.
“I am going to Cuba for something that could be very important for the history of Colombia, to sign a paper that could mean the beginning without retreat of an era of peace for the country,” Petro said, according to Snail News.
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It is the first time that Petro has accompanied a closing round of negotiations, thus raising expectations of the long-awaited announcement of the bilateral ceasefire.
I am going to Cuba to do something that could be very important for the history of Colombia, to sign a paper that could mean the beginning without retreat of an era of peace for the country.
The third cycle, which follows those developed in Venezuela and Mexico, started on May 2 and was initially scheduled to end on May 29, although it was extended by ten days.
Both parties have worked on the key point of the bilateral ceasefire, where the ELN defends a “bilateral and national” cessation that includes “parastatal forces and criminal groups”in addition to asking that it be “preliminary” because the final one would come with the final agreement.
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The Colombian government, meanwhile, considers that the ceasefire should include hostilities (damage against the civilian population: from threats to confinement, through forced displacement and the recruitment of minors) and a “geographical limitation” to be verifiable.
Today concludes in Havana the Third Cycle of the Peace Dialogues Table between the National Government of Colombia 🇨🇴 and the National Liberation Army (ELN). 5 weeks of hard work by the parties that we accompany with the hope that there is a firm path towards peace. pic.twitter.com/2NbQk9CTyZ
— Eugenio Martínez Enríquez (@EugenioMtnez) June 8, 2023
The talks began in November in Caracas, where they agreed to promote humanitarian relief in some of the regions hardest hit by the armed conflict.
The second cycle, held between February and March in Mexico City, concluded with the recognition by the Government of the political status of the ELN as a “rebel armed organization” and the record of “advances” with a view to reaching an agreement for a bilateral ceasefire.
In the third round, they talked about the bilateral ceasefire, humanitarian relief and the participation of civil society in the peace process.
EFE
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