In August, a few days after the inauguration of President Gustavo Petro, the new Colombian government announced that it intends to soon resume peace talks with the guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN).
Founded in the 1960s by students and leftist movements linked to the communist dictatorship of Fidel Castro in Cuba, the guerrilla has a Marxist-Leninist ideological line and has been one of the actors in the Colombian civil war since then. Like other guerrilla groups, the ELN engaged in drug and arms trafficking, smuggling and illegal mining.
Since the 1990s, attempts have been made to reach a peace agreement with the guerrillas, but it has never been implemented. In communiqués, the ELN has been highlighting its intention, with Petro in power, to resume negotiations.
The most recent attempt had started in 2017 in Quito, still during the government of Juan Manuel Santos. Already in the mandate of Iván Duque and with the talks transferred to Havana, two years later the negotiations were interrupted, due to the attack by the ELN on the Cadet School in Bogotá, which left 22 dead and 68 injured. The attack led the Colombian government to ask Cuba to hand over the negotiators who are in Havana, a request that was not granted by the Castro dictatorship.
For José Gustavo Arocha, a specialist in national security and a master’s in public administration from Harvard University, “when we talk about a peace treaty, the first question to ask is what kind of peace are we talking about?”.
“Unfortunately, peace has served as a catalyst for all the concerns that a population has, of course, because it wants to live in a rule of law, with full justice, but it has turned into what is called criminal peace, with total impunity for criminal groups to remain in certain areas, as is the case in Venezuela, where they have established areas of peace where criminal groups control the territory,” said the Venezuelan expert.
Earlier this year, when Duque was still president, he reiterated accusations that the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro protects dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and ELN guerrillas in the border region between the two countries, at a time in which the two groups once again faced each other over disputes over routes and territories.
Between 2006 and 2010, the FARC and the ELN clashed in the Colombian department of Arauca and the Venezuelan state of Apure, a clash that, according to a report by Human Rights Watch, killed at least 868 civilians and displaced more than 58,000 people from their homes. in the Colombian department (almost 25% of the region’s population at the time).
In 2010, the two groups established a ceasefire, which was maintained with dissent after the FARC signed a peace agreement with the Colombian government in 2016. However, the truce between the guerrillas was broken at the turn of 2021 to 2022
For Arocha, the outcome of the agreement with the FARC should be taken into account if the Colombian government resumes talks with the ELN: the expert argued that, “under the protection of the peace agreement”, the FARC split into groups that continue with criminal activities while others have political representation in the Colombian Congress (with reserved seats), with the Comunes party.
“So, in the end [dos acordos de paz], these groups enjoy the best of all worlds, because they have a political position and continue with drug trafficking crops, they have the ability to interfere in other countries. For me, the biggest beneficiary was the FARC and the biggest loser was the Colombian people, who are still largely under the control of these subversive groups”, pointed out Arocha.
“It is possible that this also happens with the ELN, because it is not a fully hierarchical group, it has many factions. With which faction will the Colombian government dialogue, with which will it make an agreement? What if one group accepts the deal and another doesn’t?” he asked.
Drug legalization
With another group involved in criminal activities, the Gulf Clan, also expressing interest in signing a peace agreement with the Colombian State, the announcement of the intention to resume dialogue with the ELN comes at a time when the Historic Pact, a coalition of Petro , is trying to pass a bill in Congress to legalize the recreational use of marijuana and is considering a similar issue regarding cocaine.
The Petro administration also proposed to the United States that traffickers who cooperate with the State and do not reoffend should not be extradited to American territory, even if they are requested on drug trafficking charges, and that priority be given to manual eradication and voluntary replacement. of coca crops in actions with communities to fight drugs.
José Gustavo Arocha argued that it is “populist” to defend the idea that legalizing drugs can lead to an end to drug-related violence.
“It is false to say that drug-producing peasants will be the biggest beneficiaries. On the contrary: they are slaves of these criminal groups, exploited to maintain this type of cultivation. Because, in the end, if Colombia legalizes drugs, their production, sale and consumption will continue to be illegal in many countries. So, this would be legalized in one country to benefit a large production while others, through the cartels, would benefit from the distribution of the drug around the world”, he criticized.
“It’s a campaign that seems populist to me, because of the theme and for attracting attention, but without a doubt that not only the Gulf Clan, but also the ELN and the FARC would be the big beneficiaries if that happened”, added Arocha.
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