MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

ELN, Colombian gov't resume talks in Havana

“We reaffirm our country's willingness to contribute to the success of this century of dialogues,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez explained

The Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group Tuesday resumed peace talks in Havana, Cuba, while President Gustavo Petro is on a tour of Spain.

“We are moved by the full awareness that every day of war has an enormous cost in lives. It means losses, pain, and the inability to build a viable life project for families and entire generations,” said Senator María José Pizarro, who heads the Colombian government's delegation.

“We are sitting at the table to seek real solutions in a country burdened by more than six decades of war,” she added.

Both parties returned to the negotiating table more than a month after the end of the second round in Mexico, to discuss the 6-point roadmap previously agreed upon. An agreement on a bilateral ceasefire is one of the topics on the agenda.

Talks between the Colombian government and the ELN had been halted for four years, before resuming in Nov. 2022, in Caracas and then continued in Mexico.

“In the country, there are strong winds of change that demand a greater protagonism of the political and social movements, intellectuals, unions, and other sectors that are betting on a different destiny from perpetual war,” said Commander Pablo Beltrán (real name Israel Ramírez) on behalf of the ELN. Beltrán also stressed the need to combat social inequalities and the depredation of nature in the Latin American country.

“The parties can count on all the efforts of Cuba, in the midst of the difficulties of our economy, for the success of this event. We reaffirm our country's willingness to contribute to the success of this century of dialogues,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez explained.

“I celebrate the beginning of the third round of dialogues in Cuba” between the Colombian government and the ELN, “I am confident that important results will be achieved in the topics foreseen in the agenda, including the ceasefire and the participation of society,” the United Nations Special Representative in Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Massieu wrote on Twitter.

He also thanked “the government of Cuba for its constant commitment to the construction of peace in Colombia, now in its role as guarantor of the peace dialogues.”